Heineken Cup Round 2: Glasgow Warriors vs Ulster Rugby, Friday 19th October 8.00p.m. Scotstoun Stadium

First topic message reminder :

So Glasgow Warriors open their home account in the Heineken Cup at their new home, Scotstoun, against the form team in Europe, Ulster Rugby.

Will the injuries suffered in their opening matches of the season be too much for them or will the steely defense that served them well all last season and much of the game against Saints prevail?

Or will the much vaunted and dangerous team that Ulster have been slowly evolving into over the past few years be too much for the Glasgow outfit.

Team news and pre-match build up to follow but it already seems like this could be one of the top encounters of the weekend with Scotstoun close to a sellout 10,000....

GLASGOW TEAM

15 Stuart Hogg
14 Byron McGuigan
13 Peter Murchie
12 Peter Horne
11 Alex Dunbar
10 Ruaridh Jackson
9 Henry Pyrgos

1 Ryan Grant
2 Dougie Hall
3 Mike Cusack
4 Tom Ryder
5 Al Kellock (CAPTAIN)
6 Josh Strauss
7 Chris Fusaro
8 Ryan Wilson

SUBSTITUTES 16 Finlay Gillies 17 Ofa Fainga’anuku 18 Gordon Reid 19 Tim Swinson 20 Rob Harley 21 John Barclay 22 Scott Wight 23 Niko Matawalu

ULSTER TEAM

(15-9): J Payne; T Bowe, D Cave, P Wallace, A Trimble; P Jackson, R Pienaar;

(1-8): T Court, R Best, J Afoa, J Muller (c), D Tuohy, I Henderson, C Henry, N Williams;

Replacements (16-23): R Herring, C Black, A Macklin, L Stevenson, M McComish, P Marshall, L Marshall, C Gilroy.

George Carlin wrote:Ulster blindside lying sealing off right in front of the referee.

Ulster penalty.

I think if you look carefully Glasgow have been sealing off quite a bit all night and going in at the side.

Alright, another good rolling maul here please!

Feel like one try will win it either way. We've had the better chances and wasted them.

Some riled players out there. Another infringement by Glasgow.

Pienaar goes for the corner.

TMO decision coming....try from Henry there?

Come on Henry!

Thats it

We've ground away at them, we deserve that score. Well done the pack. Won the penalty with the maul then another great drive over the line.

Chris Henry MOTM so far.

Nothing wrong with our rolling maul. Great score forwards.

Come onnnnnnn Ulssssstttttteeeeerrrrrr!!

drat. great drive by Ulster but Glasgow have had chances to get in front but lacked killer instinct. the scottish disease (other than heart)

3 - 11 before conversion.

Well done Henry!

So after 60 odd minutes its
Glasgow Royal Infirmary XV 3 - 13 Ulster

Good to see big Lewis Stevenson come on, he's had a storming season.

3 - 13 after 62 minutes.

We haven't deserved that try to be honest, we haven't played well and created nothing. That said if anyone deserved a try for his efforts then it should be Henry. By quite some distance the form 7 in Irish rugby at the moment.

mckay1402 wrote:drat. great drive by Ulster but Glasgow have had chances to get in front but lacked killer instinct. the scottish disease (other than heart)

To be fair, I'd say Ulster have also lacked that killer instinct. Until now we've not made 20 minutes of possession and territory count.

Hope Jackson can add 3 more now... he does! Now what do Glasgow have? They need a try.

3 - 16 at 64:00 minutes following Jackson's penalty.

3-16, game over and Heineken Cup campaign over for Glasgow. Shame the 6,194 at Scotstourn deserve better

Hookisms and Hyperbole wrote:We haven't deserved that try to be honest, we haven't played well and created nothing. That said if anyone deserved a try for his efforts then it should be Henry. By quite some distance the form 7 in Irish rugby at the moment.

Disagree. We've dominated possession and territory. It's not been a night for flowing rugby, we've ground them down.

Great scrum Glasgow

Can't believe some people think they've an average scrum

Anyone still think that Glasgow isn't a good scrummaging side?

Notch wrote:

Hookisms and Hyperbole wrote:We haven't deserved that try to be honest, we haven't played well and created nothing. That said if anyone deserved a try for his efforts then it should be Henry. By quite some distance the form 7 in Irish rugby at the moment.

Disagree. We've dominated possession and territory. It's not been a night for flowing rugby, we've ground them down.

Great scrum Glasgow

Can't believe some people think they've an average scrum

Until the last five minutes we had all the possession and did nothing with it. We got into position and then gave the ball away and had to start all over again. It's 'domination' in some regards, but not good enough without the finished product.

Hookisms and Hyperbole wrote:
Until the last five minutes we had all the possession and did nothing with it. We got into position and then gave the ball away and had to start all over again. It's 'domination' in some regards, but not good enough without the finished product.

Agreed, but you can hardly say we don't deserve it when the pack do deliver that finished product!

Glasgow coming back strongly. Ooh, indiscipline. This is big danger.

For all Glasgow pressure Ulsters defence has been very secure.

Jackson's execution has been absolutely woeful tonight.

The only backline player with any dog or consistency has been Hogg.

Terribly underpowered backline, but then again, we knew that. Just thinking of the difference in the wet that Cusiter, the Lamonts and DTH would have made.

We've done a great job of isolating Glasgows ball carriers and forcing the penalty tonight

George Carlin wrote:Anyone still think that Glasgow isn't a good scrummaging side?

I think Dowlais was just trying to have a dig at Ulster (he does it with every irish side) rather than truly trying to claim that Glasgow aren't a good scrummaging team.

The Glasgow attack has been standing far too deep all night, the outside channels are taking the ball well behind the advantage line.

At last a bit of ascendency from Ulster. Great choice for MOM. I was just thinking how well Best had performed. Well done Paddy Jackson.

George Carlin wrote:Jackson's execution has been absolutely woeful tonight.

The only backline player with any dog or consistency has been Hogg.

Terribly underpowered backline, but then again, we knew that. Just thinking of the difference in the wet that Cusiter, the Lamonts and DTH would have made.

indeed

This is a very good result if we can deny them any kind of losing bonus point or consolation score. We've choked them, squeezed them and they've been unable to get a purchase in the second half. We want to play an expansive game but we need to be able to keep it tight on nights like this.

I think Chris Henry should be man of the match for sure but Best has been back to his most powerful form in the loose.

Very good play by Glasgow there.

Lack of concentration Ulster. Carelessness. Need to be more focused for the full 80 in future games. Good try Glasgow!

Good score Glasgow.

Great try for Glasgow.

8 - 19 converson missed.

Rory Best MOTM

Gilroy should have focused on the ball rather than the player there. Not great defence from him.

Good score Glasgow.

Good win, deserved- important to deny Glasgow the LBP.

So after two games the pool looks like;

Ulster 9
Saints 6
Castres 4
Glasgow 0

Ulster's defence and breakdown have won this for them.

They didn't have many chances but have made far, far fewer mistakes.

At least it's traditional in Glasgow to have your chips early.

We've had ours in the Heineken this year already.

FT 8 - 19.

Well done lads.

Sky Sports verdict on the match in Castres "It remained tight throughout." No it didn't, Northampton were completely outplayed and devoid of ideas after having their illegal scrum technique nullified. Ulster still my bet to top this pool.

Saints with a LBP. Good result for Ulster. Settle for 9 from two and take it to Northampton in December.

Great result for Ulster against a Glasgow team who are notoriously difficult to break down.

Artful_Dodger wrote:Great result for Ulster against a Glasgow team who are notoriously difficult to break down.

Thats it, with the weather and the opposition I feared the worst. But in the end we out Glasgowed Glasgow. The winning of the game was in our breakdown work, the penalties and turnovers we won there.

Poor performance but great result. Good game from Best but my MOTM would have been either Jackson or the superlative Chris Henry. Pienaar's tactical kicking kept us in the game in the first half but his distribution was a bit sloppy and labored at times. Overall delighted though to get a great away win in tough conditions.

Very impressed with Glasgows pack, they definitely had the edge in the scrum. The scoreline probably was harsh on them and with a better place kicker they could well have nicked that.

Can't wait until the Saints games. SUFTUM.

Saints played like mouldy bread in France tonight, and yet could have won (probably undeservedly). Another poor performance. No real go forwards in the first half at all. Some of that was Castres, but some was Saints doing it to themselves. Ryan Lamb had a very poor performance. Had to be kept in the pivot because Myler was needed at fullback with Foden and Wilson injured. No other choices. Couldn't switch Myler and Lamb because Lamb can't tackle. I wanted to get Paul Grayson off the coaching lines and into the match for Lamb.

After the Castres scored the try with Brian Mujati in the bin, Saints got some wind in their sails. Had the better of play for the last 30, but that doesn't make up for the first 50. Castres barely stopped a couple of potential Saints breakaway tries.

And the match ended with Saints inside Castres 22 on a slightly, and un-needed forward pass with the line in view. Very small differences at the end.................

As I have said all season, Saints biggest problem is the inability to play for a full 80. Will be their Achilles Heel. And that told tonight.

You're a Saints fan?

yes.
can I sell you a Lamb? cheap.

Well if he is as bad a shag as he is at playing rugby, no.

Morgannwg wrote:Well if he is as bad a shag as he is at playing rugby, no.

errr. have no info about that. Should I inquire about the village?

Frankly his problem is decision making really.
I am not sure how he is able to get home every day. Bread crumbs, I suppose.

Thanks for the summary Grey.

You aren't heading over for the double header in December are you? Too early for a Christmas trip home?

Only one team going to win that game in the 2nd half. Massive respect to Glasgow for their efforts in adversity but they weren't in i the 2nd half. Fair play to ulster for squeezing them out but another error strewn performance. Tommy was Really solid I thought as well but Chris Henry was, by some distance, the best player on show out there

Yup I concur stand, Henry just gets better and better. Excellent stuff from him tonight again.