The Glasgow Warriors continued their preparations ahead of the new season with a victory over English Premiership outfit, Newcastle Falcons, at the Warriors’ new home Firhill Arena tonight.

Having already seen off the challenge of Rotherham Titans last week, the Warriors showed how rapidly they are developing into an extremely competitive side as the new Magners League season approaches.

A very content Warriors head coach, Sean Lineen, said after the game: “It’s good to get into the winning habit.

“I thought the new guys were outstanding. It was a real team effort, especially in defence, although there is still some work to be done on our attack.”

The Warriors edged into the lead in the opening ten minutes as stand-off Colin Gregor slotted two penalties in quick succession.

Newcastle tried to claw back but Gregor’s opposite man, former Border Reivers number 10 Steve Jones, only managed one penalty from two attempts.

It was shortly after the half-hour mark when Glasgow found the whitewash and scrum-half Chris O’Young crossed the line for his second try in a fortnight. Gregor converted.

With O’Young becoming an increasing threat to Sam Pinder for the number 9 jersey, Pinder stepped up to the plate to cross for his own try two minutes into the second half.

Both Pinder and Max Evans, who was a serious contender for the man of the match award, linked-up on the right flank to exchange passes before Pinder found the line.

Newcastle, with their sheer power and bulk becoming more apparent as the game wore on, began to gather momentum and crossed the line twice, through Andy Buist and Geoff Parling, to bring the gap between the two sides to only five points at the final whistle.

Man of the Match: Daryl Gibson (Glasgow Warriors)

Glasgow Warriors: Colin Shaw; Max Evans, Graeme Morrison, Daryl Gibson, Hefin O’Hare; Colin Gregor; Chris O’Young, Michael Collins, Eric Milligan, Ben Prescott, Andy Newman, Alastair Kellock CAPTAIN, Stevie Swindall, Donnie Macfadyen, Johnnie Beattie
Substitutes: Pat MacArthur, Ed Kalman, Moray Low, Dan Turner, James Eddie, Opeta Palepoi, Richie Vernon, Scott Forrest, Sam Pinder, Mike Adamson, Sean Marsden, Scott Barrow, Bernardo Stortoni

Newcastle Falcons: Matthew Burke; Tom May, James Hoyle, Mark Mayerhofler, John Rudd; Steve Jones, Lee Dickson; Joe McDonnell, Matt Thompson, Micky Ward, Andy Buist, Mark Sorenson, Geoff Parling, Ben Woods, Phil Dowson CAPTAIN
Substitutes: Andy Long, David Wilson, Jon Golding, Andy Perry, Brent Wilson, James Grindal, Adam Dehaty, Joe Shaw, Ollie Phillips

Referee: Andrew Macpherson (West of Scotland RRS)

This article was posted on 31-Aug-2007, 21:45 by Hugh Barrow.