Glasgow Warriors hold off Cardiff Blues to keep top four hopes alive
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 06/03/16 7:27pm
Reigning champions Glasgow consolidated their bid for a top-four finish in the Guinness PRO12 by beating Cardiff Blues 27-20 at Scotstoun.
After a bright opening that brought Glasgow a try from prop Gordon Reid, the game fell away until the Warriors closed out the half with a try from lock Tim Swinson. Duncan Weir converted both scores as well as kicking two penalties to send his side into the break with an impressive 20-0 lead.
The second half only came alive in the last 10 minutes. In that period Cardiff scored three tries through winger Dan Fish, flanker Ellis Jenkins and replacement Macauley Cook but Glasgow were able to protect their lead thanks to a try from flanker Simone Favaro as the hosts held on for the win.
Glasgow were quickly into gear, scoring a penalty through Weir inside five minutes and then producing a try for Reid. The move began when hooker Fraser Brown slipped a tackle before Reid finished off.
Five minutes later a sparkling handling attack seemed to have been rounded off by Warriors centre Mark Bennett, but the television replay showed he had dropped the ball while touching down.
That error set the tone for the rest of the half, but Glasgow did go into the break leading by 20 points thanks to another Weir penalty and Swinson's score right on the stroke of half-time.
Good build-up play, marked by a drive from young prop Zander Fagerson, allowed lock Swinson to grab the try with Weir converting.
Glasgow could make nothing of territorial pressure from the restart and Cardiff steadily worked their way up the field for Rhys Patchell to kick a simple penalty on 55 minutes.
As the game progressed Glasgow became anxious as they searched for the bonus-point try, with Cardiff establishing their dominance at the set scrum.
The hosts still looked in control heading into the last 10 minutes, but Cardiff caused a few nervous moments as they ran in three tries.
The first came in the 75th minute when Cardiff winger Fish got to a kick-through for an unconverted try.
However, any hopes the Blues might have had of making further in-roads into Glasgow's lead were sunk almost immediately when their centre Aled Summerhill was sin-binned at the restart for pulling down an opponent.
Weir put the penalty to the corner and Glasgow drove the line-out over for a try from replacement flanker Favaro, which was converted by Weir.
Cardiff had the last word with two tries in the last four minutes from Jenkins and Cook, but it was too little too late.
The former was at the bottom of a pile following a successful maul and Cook got over in the corner after a series of breaks from the visitors.
