Glasgow keep Heineken Cup hopes alive with win

Glasgow Warriors 41 Arix Viadana 31

Glasgow Warriors grabbed the bonus point they needed to keep alive their hopes of claiming a Heineken Cup quarter-final ticket with victory or Arix Viadana.

But they made dreadfully heavy going of snuffing out the challenge of the Italian underdogs at Firhill.

Sean Lineen’s men looked on course to romp to an emphatic success when they created a 17-point lead.

However, they surrendered the initiative and ended up scrambling to a far from convincing win – the tide only turning back in their favour when Viadana had two men in the sin-bin.

And their carelessness could prove to be their undoing if qualification boils down to points difference.

Calvin Howarth had given his former Glasgow team-mates an early wake-up call as the visitors raced into a shock lead.

With only three minutes on the clock, he launched a massive clearance into enemy territory where Bernie Stortoni fatally hesitated.

In dashed winger Hayden Pedersen to scoop up the loose ball and cruise in for a try under the crossbar, handing Howarth a formality of a conversion.

Rattled Warriors hit back with a lucky touchdown from Hefin O’Hare. Stortoni made amends for his earlier gaffe by shrugging off four challenges.

O’Hare lost his grip on the ball, which freakishly bounced back into his arms to enable him to finish.

Dan Parks slotted the extra points and then banged over a 40-metre penalty awarded for offside.

That was the cue for Glasgow to slip into gear and they appeared to take control with a quickfire burst of scores by Parks and recalled centre Graeme Morrison.

Parks goaled them both to open up a 17-point gap midway through the half and it seemed only a matter of time before they would claim the bonus point.

But it was Viadana who bagged the next score in the wake of another defensive slip, this time by Johnny Beattie, and again Pedersen was the beneficiary.

Howarth converted, however his next penalty attempt fell marginally short.

He rediscovered his touch two minutes after the restart with a well-struck angled effort from 40 metres to give the Warriors a further jolt.

Even worse was to come for Glasgow as Aldo Birchall pounced for Viadana’s third try following a quickly-taken tapped penalty. Howarth’s kick tied the contest.

The Italians were reduced to 13 when Birchall and Dion Waller were yellow-carded – but still the Warriors struggled to impose themselves.

Substitute scrum-half Sam Pinder eased the jitters as he darted over from close quarters for the all-important fourth score.

And at last they made their experience count with a try by John Barclay with Parks taking his personal tally to 21 points.

But the Italians had the last word with a chip-and-chase counter from Steven Bortolussi, converted by Howarth.