Parks kicked all of Glasgow's points in the first half
Glasgow Warriors (9) 9
Pens: Parks (3)


Biarritz (3) 6
Pens: Dupuy (2)

Glasgow Warriors claimed their second Heineken Cup win of the campaign by taking the notable scalp of Biarritz.

The home side took advantage of an error-strewn first half from the French visitors, with Dan Parks successful with three penalty kicks.

Julian Dupuy responded with a penalty in either half as Biarritz turned up the heat after the break.

However, Sean Lineen's side held on in the face of some fierce late pressure to pick up a valuable four points.

Glasgow leapfrong Biarritz into second spot in Pool 4, with Saracens leading the way.

Warriors began strongly but were under the cosh for the frantic final 15 minutes.

But they survived with a sterling display of marking and tackling, with the back-row immense.

A penalty for offside in the seventh minute gave Parks the chance to break the deadlock, which he took with confidence.

There was then a dose of frustration for the Scotland fly-half as he watched his well-struck drop-goal bid crash back from the near upright.

Almost immediately, however, he clipped over penalty number two.

It took 25 minutes for the Basques to surge into enemy territory and they capitalised with a 40-metre penalty from scrum-half Dupuy.

Parks completed his penalty treble and there was a further bonus for the home brigade when Dupuy's next attempt dipped under the crossbar.

Suddenly, the French stars clicked into gear and began to string together penetrative sequences.

Dupuy was off-target with an ambitious long-range penalty, giving the Warriors an opportunity to regroup.

They worked their way back into the 22 with a well-controlled pack drive, only for the momentum to be lost through a knock-on.

Biarritz grabbed back the initiative as the contest opened up and substitute home scrum-half Chris O'Young foiled them by haring back to get the first touch to a teasing grubber kick by Julien Peyrelongue.

The action was frantic going into the final stages, with Parks going agonisingly close to snapping up an interception with Hefin O'Hare free on his shoulder.

Then came a moment of high controversy as Lome Fa'atau was adjudged to have felled Damien Traille with a late challenge.

That left the stage clear for Dupuy to narrow the gap with his simple penalty.

And then came the astonishing rearguard display which blocked out wave after wave of French raids.



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Glasgow: Adamson, Faatau, Henderson, Wilson, O'Hare, Parks, Pinder, Va'a, Thomson, Low, Newman, Turner, Brown, Barclay, Beattie.
Replacements: O'Young for Pinder (60), Milligan for Thomson (67), Kalman for Low (55), Eddie for Newman (67). Not Used: Palepoi, Barrow, Morrison.

Biarritz: Brusque, Bidabe, Traille, Thiery, Bosch, Dupuy, Coetzee, Noirot, Avril, Thion, Hall, Betsen, Harinordoquy, Vahafolau, Balan.
Replacements: Cibray for Thiery (80), Peyrelongue for Bosch (43), Bolakoro for Coetzee (40), August for Noirot (40), Couzinet for Avril (70), Cronje for Vahafolau (40). Not Used: Carizza.

Att: 2,194

Ref: T Hayes (Wales).

This article was posted on 9-Dec-2007, 15:17 by Hugh Barrow.