THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS

Glasgow 28-0 Cardiff Blues: Glasgow rise to second as they discover their finishing touch


By DAVID FERGUSON
AT FIRHILL STADIUM
Lineen's men earn vital bonus point

GLASGOW rose to second in the Magners League last night with a well-deserved victory over Cardiff at Firhill that owed much to the side discovering how to finish.

Both Glasgow and Edinburgh had suffered through profligacy before the autumn Test bADVERTISEMENTreak, and the problem continued with Scotland, but tries last night from Mark McMillan, Max Evans and Lome Fa'atau virtually killed this contest before the hour-mark, with Evans adding a fourth to secure the bonus point and the man-of-the-match award.

This was a Cardiff side missing six key players to Wales duty, as well as inspirational back row Xavier Rush, the former All Black currently injured, and so this was a good opportunity for Glasgow.

Such is the Welsh regions' strength in depth that none are easily bowled over, however, and Glasgow had to work tirelessly right through the match, and finish, to really put this game beyond doubt.

After an early kick-fest that did nothing to lift minds from the numbing cold, and a long-range penalty miss by Dan Parks, it was Cardiff who almost drew first blood with a terrific counter-attack.

In fact, a good trundler by Stortoni into space on Cardiff's right did finally bring some pressure, after 14 minutes, near the Cardiff line when the ball rolled into touch five metres from the Blues' right-hand corner.

Bizarrely, that almost instantly produced the game's first try, for Cardiff. The visitors broke with ridiculous ease from their own 22, veteran Wales skipper Gareth Thomas making it deep into the Glasgow half before being forced to pass, and had Jamie Robinson kept the ball moving to the left wing then a Tom James a try seemed certain. Instead, he lost the ball along the ground and Glasgow survived.

The attack did, however, inspire Cardiff and they began to put some good phases together inside the Glasgow 22, Thomas battering to within a metre of the line on a pass from Ceri Sweeney, the inside centre, before being turned over.

Knock-ons at both end of the field contrived to stunt the Blues' ambition, before the kicking duel again dominated the skyline above Firhill. Below, the natives were growing restless with shouts of "c'mon play some rugby guys" aimed probably at both sides.

It was Cardiff who took the initiative, stepping up the pace as the match entered the second quarter, but still they could not retain possession long enough to threaten.

Glasgow, meanwhile, grasped a chance with 24 minutes played when Parks converted a penalty from just outside the 22, after sending a drop-goal just wide.

Just as Thomas' break gave the visitors confidence, so Glasgow seemed to take heart from Parks' strike and began to trust themselves to hold onto the ball for longer. Less than three minutes later, they earned reward when a Parks kick to touch, followed by good pressure at the lineout, had the Blues' defence in trouble, and McMillan, the sprightly scrum-half, pounced on a loose ball over Cardiff's line to touch down the game's first try ahead of despairing Blues defenders.

Paul Tito was a good source of lineout possession for the Blues, but they struggled throughout the first half to uncover any rhythm to their attack, turning ball over too easily and lacking discipline in contact, while Parks tidied up regular loose ends for Glasgow with hefty punts that sent the Blues trekking demoralisingly back towards their own posts.

Glasgow looked the more dangerous and some neat hands by Parks and Max Evans almost put Fa'atau into the right-hand corner, but the Blues' defence kept him out. Tito had to be alert to deny Fa'atau from reaching a McMillan chip, but Glasgow reclaimed possession and after a series of forward charges to the Cardiff line, Max Evans then showed just why he is becoming Scottish rugby's man-of-the-moment by taking a wild pass 16 metres out, handing off one defender and rounding another to score.

Parks missed the touchline conversion, but, as Sweeney then stuck his restart kick straight into touch, the sides trooped off for half-time with Glasgow clearly in the ascendency.

Evans and Johnnie Beattie, the Glasgow No 8, continued to expose holes in the Blues defence as the home support warmed to the early second half action, the pack gripped the game and rolled Cardiff backwards and Parks nudged Glasgow 16 points ahead with a second penalty.

With 25 minutes remaining, an up-and-under from Stortoni created the necessary mayhem in the Cardiff half for another try, this time Kelly Brown grasping the loose ball and Andy Henderson slipping a neat grubber through for Fa'atau to touch down. It came at a cost as Stortoni took a heavy boot on the thigh, and had to be replaced by Ruaridh Jackson, but there was little else to bother home coach Sean Lineen other than this.

Lineen was almost celebrating a fourth try with six minutes remaining, but after sprinting clear of the cover, Thom Evans kicked too long at full pelt and the ball disappeared over the dead-ball line. His brother duly stepped in, however, scoring his second three minutes into injury-time to clinch the bonus point and underline his man-of-the-match award.

Scorers. Glasgow: Tries; McMillan, M Evans 2, Fa'atau. Pens: Parks 2.

Glasgow: B Stortoni; L Fa'atau, M Evans, A Henderson, T Evans; D Parks, M McMillan; J Va'a, D Hall , E Kalman, T Barker, A Kellock (capt), C Forrester, J Beattie, K Brown. Subs: M Low for Kalman 50mins, R Jackson for Stortoni 57, H O'Hare for Fa'atau 67, C Gregor for McMillan 69, D Turner for Barker, R Vernon for Forrester, E Milligan for Hall, all 73.

Cardiff: B Blair; G Thomas, J Robinson, C Sweeney, T James; N Robinson, J Spice; T Filise, R Thomas, G Powell, D Jones, P Tito, M Molitika, M Lewis, R Sowden-Taylor. Subs: D Hewitt for N Robinson 7mins, G Williams for Thomas 53, R Rees for Spice 55, S Morgan for Tito 63, G Williams for , S Roberts for Filise 71.

Attendance: 2,364.

Referee: C Stanley (RFU).

Ulster last night made it three Magners League home wins on the trot with a thumping 53-13 romp over bottom side Connacht.

Man of the match Ian Humphreys led the way with 18 points from six conversions and two penalties, landing eight kicks from nine attempts.

This article was posted on 29-Nov-2008, 08:34 by Hugh Barrow.