Glasgow Warriors are in RaboDirect PRO12 semi-final action on Saturday when they face Leinster at the RDS in Dublin (kick-off 7.35pm, live on BBC ALBA).
Live score updates will be available via our official Twitter feed @glasgowwarriors.
Supporters making the trip across the Irish sea are invited to our Fan Zone at the Ballsbridge Hotel (www.ballsbridgehotel.com), located on Pembroke Road around a ten minute walk from the RDS.
The Fan Zone, based in the Dubliner bar at the hotel, will be open from 3pm, with flag giveaways to the early arrivals! Hot food will be available.
We’ve also arranged a special screening of BBC ALBA’s live coverage at Waxy O’Connor’s on West George Street in Glasgow.
Three big screens will be showing the game, snacks will be served at half-time, and Warriors players will be coming along to take in all the action with you.
Leinster looked to play on the front foot from the off, and despite a couple of good clearing kicks from Duncan Weir and Stuart Hogg, the hosts kept up the pressure and won a penalty at the breakdown. From just shy of the halfway line, Jonathan Sexton did the business to notch the first points of the night.
Glasgow hit back from the restart, however, and forced a penalty of their own. Duncan Weir stepped up confidently to stick the ball between the posts from a position marginally closer in than the Leinster 10m line.
It was an even opening 20 minutes at the RDS, both teams looking to establish dominance up front in a fiercely combative contest.
Leinster came closest to giving us a first quarter try, a typically bullocking charge from captain Jamie Heaslip setting the Irish up to hammer at the Glasgow line. The visiting defence held firm, though, and even claimed a penalty as Leinster were judged guilty of holding on with the whitewash beckoning.
Alas, the reprieve was short lived. After Glasgow were pulled up for a squint lineout throw, Leinster got the shove on at the scrum, and won a penalty for Warriors taking down the set-piece. Sexton had little trouble in restoring the home team's three-point advantage.
Glasgow were soon under more pressure, Leinster pummelling their line and regularly switching the point of attack before Alex Dunbar, the Warriors centre, stuck out a hand and was yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on.
There followed a quite incredible defensive effort from Sean Lineen's side, who made a mockery of their numerical inferiority to withstand a brutal and sustained assault from Leinster. They pushed, they probed, they sought to bully, but Glasgow stood firm and refused to yield, not a weak link to be spotted in their defensive chain.
Sexton did knock over another penalty, Weir pinged for tackling a player without the ball, but the Warriors were still very much in the game as the teams headed for the dressing rooms, enjoying the best of the closing minutes of the half before a Graeme Morrison knock-on interrupted a promising passage of play.
HALF-TIME: LEINSTER 9-3 GLASGOW WARRIORS
Glasgow started the brighter of the two sides after the interval, and forced a couple of penalties through the continued tenacity and intensity of their work at the breakdown. Neither was the easiest kick for Weir, and sadly both went unconverted. Still, the momentum was with the Warriors and the impressive travelling support grew ever more vocal as a result.
Not that there weren't any anxious moments to negotiate. Heaslip again sprung to the fore 53 minutes in, spotting some space in the middle of the Glasgow defence and battering through. He had substitute Andrew Conway outside him, but tried to go it alone. Warriors turned the ball over, allowing Weir to clatter it clear.
The normally ice cool Sexton then experienced his own troubles from the kicking tee, missing with a shot that looked well within his compass to leave the score still at 9-3 entering the final quarter.
Sexton nudged Leinster a little further ahead in the 63rd minute, getting his angles right after Al Kellock was caught offside.
Despite the their relentless endeavour, the Warriors were still susceptible to the flashes of brilliance that this Leinster team so readily contrive. Isa Nacewa, suspiciously quiet up to now, suddenly burst into a pocket of space, drawing the cover before putting David Kearney in at the left-hand corner. Sexton nailed a touchline conversion to put Leinster 19-3 up.
Leinster: 15 Isa Nacewa; 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Eoin O’Malley, 12 Gordon D’Arcy, 11 David Kearney; 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan; 1 Cian Healy, 2 Richardt Strauss, 3 Mike Ross, 4 Brad Thorn, 5 Devin Toner, 6 Sean O’Brien, 7 Shane Jennings, 8 Jamie Heaslip (CAPTAIN)
Substitutes: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Nathan White, 19 Leo Cullen, 20 Kevin McLaughlin, 21 Isaac Boss, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Andrew Conway
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Stuart Hogg; 14 Federico Aramburu, 13 Graeme Morrison, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 DTH van der Merwe; 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Chris Cusiter; 1 Ryan Grant, 2 Pat MacArthur, 3 Mike Cusack, 4 Richie Gray, 5 Al Kellock (CAPTAIN), 6 Rob Harley, 7 Chris Fusaro, 8 John Barclay
Substitutes: 16 Dougie Hall, 17 Jon Welsh, 18 Moray Low, 19 Tom Ryder, 20 Henry Pyrgos, 21 Johnnie Beattie, 22 Ruaridh Jackson, 23 Peter Murchie

This article was posted on 12-May-2012, 21:47 by Hugh Barrow.