Glasgow Warriors 18-22 Biarritz

Glasgow Warriors (12) 18
Tries: None Drop goal: Parks Pens: Parks 5
Biarritz Olympique (12) 22
Try: Lund Con: Yashvili Pen: Yashvili 3 Drop goals: Traille, Bosch

Biarritz took advantage of Glasgow fragility at the line-outs
Magnus Lund's second-half try proved to be the difference between the sides as Biarritz opened their Heineken Cup campaign with a win in Glasgow.
The boot of Dan Parks - one drop-goal and five penalties, one from his own half - had kept the home side ahead for most of the Pool Two match at Firhill.
But Lund beat Colin Gregor to the line to put Biarritz ahead after the break.
Marcelo Bosch and Damien Traille scored drop-goals, while Dimitri Yachvili's boot accounted for the other points.
Glasgow, who claimed a losing bonus point, had dominated the early possession and the pressure told as they won three early penalties.
Parks took advantage by slotting the ball over after four, eight and 15 minutes.
But Biarritz replied with their first serious incursion into the Warriors half, Yachvili slotting over the 17th-minute penalty.
The deficit was further reduced four minutes later when pressure from the French side gave Traille plenty of time to find his spot with a drop-goal.
Parks, though, restored Glasgow's advantage with an amazing kick from inside his own half, finding the target from fully 57 metres after 26 minutes.
Yachvili replied two minutes later from a difficult angle of his own before Parks blotted his copybook when he appeared to panic with Glasgow threatening the Biarritz line and opted for a drop-goal attempt that was well wide of target.
That proved costly for the home side shortly before half-time as another foray into Glasgow territory allowed Bosch an easy drop-goal chance to tie the scores at half-time.

Parks scored with a monster kick from his own half at Firhill
Glasgow were back in front immediately on the restart, with Parks scoring from in front of the posts.
Traille missed a drop-goal while Yachvili was off target with a penalty as Biarritz squandered opportunities to make some pressure tell.
However, a loose line-out from Glasgow allowed the visitors to score the only try in the 48th minute.
Following consultation with the video referee, it was decided that Lund had put pressure on the ball ahead of Colin Gregor.
Yachvili's conversion put Biarritz four points ahead and the French were now in the ascendancy.
Suddenly, though, it was Glasgow's turn to apply some pressure and Parks missed a long penalty before eventually reducing the deficit to a point with a drop-goal.
Some sloppy Warriors play allowed Yachvili another chance with a kick wide on the touchline that he converted to put the French four points ahead once more.
Glasgow had two thirds of the possession, but Parks again squandered some pressure on the French line with a kick over the defence that was swept up in front of the posts and Biarritz withstood all that the Warriors could throw at them in the closing minutes.
Glasgow Warriors: Bernardo Stortoni, Rob Dewey, Dave McCall, Thom Evans, Dan Parks, Jon Welsh, Dougie Hall, Moray Low, Tim Barker, Alastair Kellock (capt), Richie Vernon, John Barclay, Johnnie Beattie.
Replacements: Fergus Thomson, Ed Kalman, Kevin Tkachuk, Dan Turner, Kelly Brown, Hefin O'Hare, Colin Gregor, DTH van der Merwe, Mark McMillan, Peter Horne.
Biarritz: Marcelo Bosch; Takudzwa Ngwenya, Ayoola Erinle, Damien Traille, Nicolas Brusque; Julien Peyrelongue, Dimitri Yachvili; Eduard Coetzee, Romain Terrain, Campbell Johnstone, Jérôme Thion, Pelu Taele, Magnus Lund, Imanol Harinordoquy, Florian Faure.
Replacements: Benoit August, Fabien Barcella, Mosese Moala, Manuel Carizza, Wenceslas Lauret, Yann Lesgourgues, Valentin Courrent, Laurent Tranier.

This article was posted on 10-Oct-2009, 18:22 by Hugh Barrow.