Leinster take advantage of sloppy Glasgow to win

Glasgow Warriors 20 Leinster 33

Glasgow squandered 16 points worth of goal attempts to hand Leinster the clear-cut victory they craved to keep alive their quest to squeeze into the Heineken Cup quarter-finals at Hughenden.

While Glasgow captain Dan Parks was enduring a nightmare, his opposite number and rival skipper Felipe Contepomi underlined his world-class credentials by landing a series of crucial strikes and sliding in for the try which finally killed off the home challenge.

Glasgow had been dealt a late injury setback when international utility back Rory Lamont failed to recover from a knee ligament strain – forcing coach Hugh Campbell to field Colin Shaw out of position on the wing.

Veteran Ireland prop Reggie Corrigan was given the honour of leading out the visitors to mark his 50th appearance in the tournament.

Leinster had dominated the nervy opening exchanges, however it was Glasgow who were handed the first scoring opportunity.

But Parks did not connect crisply with his 35-metre penalty and the ball flew wide of the near post. The visitors made the most of their reprieve by claiming the lead less than a minute later.

Graydon Staniforth was guilty of holding on to the ball too long in contact and Argentinian star Contepomi was straight and true from long range.

Warriors responded positively and should have created a try in the wake of a fast break by Hefin O’Hare. He linked well with John Barclay but his pass to Staniforth was too hard for him to take at pace.

Glasgow’s endeavour paid off shortly afterwards when Parks got them off the mark with a penalty after off-the-ball obstruction in midfield.

But the strike only served to spark Leinster into attacking action from which they claimed a superb touchdown. Contepomi inflicted the initial damage with a straight break before freeing hooker Bernie Jackman.

He was hauled down a few paces short of the target, but the ball was quickly recycled allowing plenty of space and time for winger Kieran Lewis to cruise over unopposed at the corner.

Again, the stung Warriors burst back into the contest to bag a great score of their own. Scrum-half Graeme Beveridge wrong-footed the Irish defence with a tap and run before going to ground.

Glasgow won a quick ruck and Beveridge flipped it wide for centre Graeme Morrison – making his first start of the season – to brush off two challenges and reach the line.

Parks was off cue again with the conversion, and his confidence suffered further blows as he made a hash of successive penalties.

And the inevitable happened on the stroke of the break when Contepomi banged over another effort from close to halfway to edge his side back in front.

The kick spurred on the province and there was still time for flanker Ciaran Potts to deliver another setback to the Warriors by plunging over for a try at the end of an expertly controlled rolling maul.

Rattled Glasgow came out with all guns blazing at the restart, pinning Leinster back in their own danger zone for the frantic first 10 minutes.

Despite being up against a rugged defence, they kept their patience and were rewarded when Morrison hurtled through for his second try.

But yet again, Parks was off the mark with the conversion – putting more pressure on his team-mates. Stanforth was then narrowly wide and short with a speculative drop-goal bid from a metre inside his own half.

And when the Warriors were awarded another penalty three minutes later Parks continued to back himself – but his fortunes did not change.

Contepomi promptly thumped over his third at the other end to put the Irishmen back in the driving seat with a six-point cushion.

And Gordon D’Arcy made sure of the bonus point with a chip-and-catch try to seal the precious bonus point.

Andy Henderson clawed back a consolation touchdown for the shellshocked Warriors, goaled by substitute Colin Gregor.