Glasgow demolish sorry Gloucester

Editor

Glasgow rattled up 27 points in the first-half on their way to a fine 33-11 win over Gloucester that puts right into the qualification mix.

Glasgow rattled up 27 points in the first-half en route to a fine 33-11 win over Gloucester that keeps alive their hopes of progressing in Europe.

A fiery opening at Firhill on Friday shook the visitors as Scotland's forgotten man Dan Parks slotted two penalties in the first five minutes.

The Glasgow playmaker then went from hero to villain as a skewed kick gave Gloucester their only field position of the opening ten minutes and Nicky Robinson opened the scoring for the visitors with a simple penalty.

Glasgow kept the game deep in the opposition half for Parks to land penalty number three but Robinson reduced the margin two minutes later with his second penalty.

Parks replied again before another misplaced kick allowed Gloucester to attack and set up Charlie Sharples for the first try of the game.

Parks confirmed the dominance of the Glasgow forwards three minutes later with his fifth penalty and, eight minutes from half-time, a sparkling cross-field move saw Max Evans cross for a home try.

The break did not come quickly enough for a beleaguered Gloucester, who conceded try number two when Parks' long pass found full-back Bernie Stortoni to romp in for the score.

The conversion took Parks' first-half tally to 17 points and he made it 20 just three minutes into the second half with another penalty.

Gloucester tried to hit back but the home side soaked up all the pressure with flanker Peter Buxton and lock Dave Attwood driven back by ferocious Glasgow defence.

Kelly Brown and Richie Vernon led a couple of breakouts but Glasgow were pinned inside their own half, although they were content to keep Gloucester well away from the danger zone.

With ten minutes left, Glasgow again started to put pace on the ball as Gloucester ran out of steam and ideas and Parks banged over his seventh penalty.

The scorers:

For Glasgow:
Tries:
Evans, Stortoni
Con: Parks
Pen: Parks 7

For Gloucester:
Tries:
Sharples
Pen: Robinson 2

Glasgow: 15 Bernardo Stortoni, 14 Thom Evans, 13 Max Evans, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Peter Murchie, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 Richie Vernon, 7 John Barclay (capt), 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Dan Turner, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Moray Low, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Jon Welsh.
Replacements: 16 Fergus Thomson, 17 Ed Kalman, 18 Kevin Tkachuk, 19 Tim Barker, 20 Calum Forrester, 21 Mark McMillan, 22 Colin Gregor, 23 DTH van der Merwe.

Gloucester: 15 Carlos Spencer, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 James Simpson-Daniel, 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 Lesley Vainikolo, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Luke Narraway, 7 Alasdair Strokosch, 6 Peter Buxton (capt), 5 Alex Brown, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Darren Dawidiuk, 17 Paul Doran-Jones, 18 Alasdair Dickinson, 19 Adam Eustace, 20 Gareth Delve, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Tom Voyce, 23 Tim Molenaar.

Referee: Christophe Berdos (France)
Assistant referees: Eric Gauzins (France),Jean-Luc Rebollal (France)
Assessor: Bertie Smith (Ireland)