Glasgow defeat Biarritz

Glasgow 9 Biarritz 6

Glasgow survived a late Biarritz blitz to boost their quest to reach the Heineken Cup knock-out stage.

Warriors began strongly but were under the cosh for the frantic final 15 minutes as the visitors cranked up the pressure.

However, they survived with a sterling display of marking and tackling.

A penalty for offside in the seventh minute gave Dan Parks the chance to break the deadlock, which he took with confidence.

There was then a dose of frustration for the Scotland World Cup stand-off as he watched his well-struck drop-goal bid crash back from the near upright.

Almost immediately, however, he goaled penalty number two.

It took 25 minutes for the Basques to surge into enemy territory and they capitalised with a 40-metre penalty from scrum-half Julien Dupuy.

Parks completed his penalty treble and there was a further bonus for the home brigade when Dupuy’s next attempt dipped under the crossbar.

Suddenly, the French stars clicked into gear and began to string together penetrative sequences.

Dupuy was off-target with an ambitious long-range penalty, giving the Warriors an opportunity to regroup.

They worked their way back into the 22 with a well-controlled pack drive, only for the momentum to be lost through a knock-on.

Biarritz grabbed back the initiative as the contest opened up and substitute home scrum-half Chris O’Young foiled them by haring back to get the first touch to a teasing grubber kick by Julien Peyrelongue.

The action was frantic going into the final 10 minutes, with Parks going agonisingly close to snapping up an interception with Hefin O’Hare free on his shoulder.

Then came a moment of high controversy as Lome Fa’atau was adjudged to have felled Damien Traille with a late challenge.

That left the stage clear for Dupuy to narrow the gap to a single point with his simple penalty.

And then came the astonishing rearguard display which blocked out wave after wave of French raids.