Glasgow brush Scarlets aside

Editor

Glasgow provisionally returned to the top of the Pro12 standings on Friday thanks to a 22-7 victory over the Scarlets at a rain-soaked Scotstoun.

Conditions were difficult, but the Warriors managed three tries on their way to a solid home win.

Scarlets were strong in defence but never had enough forward momentum to threaten a victory.

The conditions in Glasgow were nothing short of appalling, with both wind and rain making things difficult for both sides.

That was shown to be true early on, when both Rhys Priestland and Finn Russell missed what would usually be easy penalties due to the weather.

With that in mind, Glasgow tucked the ball under their jumpers and tried to grind down their Welsh opponents.

The Scottish side gradually built pressure inside the Scarlets 22, and eventually worked the ball wide where Alex Dunbar was waiting to score the first try of the night.

Scarlets were struggling, but there was sensation to come just before the break when Liam Williams scored a superb solo try. The full-back ran a superb line, fought off the attentions of the Glasgow defence and scored, meaning Scarlets somehow led 7-5 at the break.

If Glasgow were shell-shocked by that William’s try, they didn’t show it after the break. Peter Murchie twisted his body to get over the line in the corner. The TMO took his time, but eventually judged that the full-back didn’t go into touch before grounding the ball.

Both sides continued to battle the weather as well as their opponents, on what was a very difficult night for the scrum, which led to several groans from the home crowd.

Russell was on target with a penalty with 15 minutes to go, meaning Glasgow were starting to look more comfortable with a 15-7 lead.

It was game over soon after, with DTH van der Merwe injecting some much needed pace into the game, breaking through a ragged Scarlets line and securing victory.

The scorers:

For Glasgow:
Tries: Dunbar, Murchie, van der Merwe
Cons: Russell 2
Pen: Russell

For Scarlets:
Try: L. Williams
Con: Priestland

Glasgow: 15 Peter Murchie, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Alex Dunbar, 12 Peter Horne, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Niko Matawalu, 8 Josh Strauss (c), 7 Ryan Wilson, 6 Leone Nakarawa, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Mike Cusack, 2 Pat MacArthur, 1 Jerry Yanuyanutawa.
Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Ryan Grant, 18 Euan Murray, 19 James Eddie, 20 Will Bordill, 21 Ali Price, 22 James Downey, 23 DTH van der Merwe.

Scarlets: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Hadleigh Parkes, 13 Regan King, 12 Scott Williams (c), 11 Michael Tagicakibau, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Rob McCusker, 7 John Barclay, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Johan Snyman, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Rob Evans.
Replacements: 16 Torin Myhill, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Peter Edwards, 19 George Earle, 20 Lewis Rawlins, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Steven Shingler, 23 Jordan Williams.

Venue: Scotstoun
Referee: George Clancy
Assistant Referees: Andrew McMenemy, Sam Grove-White
TMO: David Changleng