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Gray - Right place, right time

Image: Richie Gray: Proved the matchwinner at Firhill.

Richie Gray was delighted to emerge as the hero after his late try secured Glasgow a thrilling victory over Bath.

Scotland second-rower revels in victory over Bath

Richie Gray was thrilled to score the match-winning try in Glasgow's Heineken Cup Pool Three 26-21 defeat of Bath at the end of a week in which he announced he is to leave the Warriors. The Scotland second row will join Sale Sharks at the end of the season, but demonstrated his commitment to the Warriors' cause with the score which sent Glasgow to the top of the table ahead of next week's trip to Dublin, where defending champions Leinster lie in wait. "Duncan (Weir) went for the drop goal, I saw there was a touch on it and it was the bounce of a rugby ball - right place at the right time," Gray explained. "The main focus was to give everything in a Warriors shirt while I'm still here. That is the focus for me and that's the way I'll always be." Gray's stoppage-time effort upstaged the debut of Bath's World Cup-winning fly-half Stephen Donald. Donald had kicked the visitors into a 21-19 lead after 79 minutes after replacing Tom Heathcote, who had a 100% record from six penalties. But Gray, who reached the ball ahead of team-mate Rob Harley after Weir's drop-goal attempt was blocked, ensured Donald's first appearance since lifting the Webb Ellis Cup after the All Blacks beat France in Auckland three weeks ago ended on a losing note. Weir kicked the conversion to take his personal tally to 16, while full-back Stuart Hogg also scored a try for the hosts.

Lineen delighted

Warriors head coach Sean Lineen said: "I'm delighted for Richie, a great try. "The drop goal was quite far away and it was a fortuitous bounce but I think Bath had been offside about four phases in a row and they got away with murder there. "The guys never gave up. There was a real desire there." After seeing his side take a third successive English scalp at home - Bath following Gloucester and London Wasps to defeat - and a fifth successive win, Lineen is now relishing the trip to Dublin. "We beat them in the (RaboDirect) Pro12 when both teams were without their World Cup players," he added. "We know how to win over there, but it's going to be a slightly different atmosphere and reason for winning."
Bath dejected
Bath must now bounce back when they meet Montpellier at the Rec next weekend. "We're bitterly disappointed to lose it at the death," declared backs and defence coach Brad Davis. "After applying a fair bit of pressure, 15, 20 minutes without coming away with a score, we got a tad frustrated and started to try and force things. "There were a few unforced errors that crept into our game and we probably let Glasgow off the hook a little bit. "But you don't have too much time in this competition to feel sorry for yourselves. You've got to pick yourselves up and move on. We're going to have to step it up." England international Matt Banahan was slated to start at centre, but withdrew after suffering a thigh problem during the warm-up. Davis, who denied Bath had been in the running to sign Gray, added: "That hurt us a little bit in terms of our punch going forward in the midfield."