Glasgow hold off Cardiff Blues

Editor

Glasgow claimed an opening day win in the RaboDirect PRO12 on Friday, edging Cardiff Blues 22-15 in the rain at Scotstoun Stadium.

Glasgow claimed an opening day victory in the RaboDirect PRO12 on Friday, seeing off Cardiff Blues 22-15 in heavy rain at Scotstoun Stadium.

The first-half was a real struggle as both sides found it difficult to deal with the conditions and attempted to feel their way into the new season.

A couple of penalties for each side, thanks to Rhys Patchell for the Blues and Scott Wight and Mark Bennett for the Warriors, ensured that the scoreboard was at least ticking over in the opening quarter of an hour.

And, although there was barely a try-scoring opportunity for the crowd to get excited about as the half progressed, the home side did wrestle some semblance of control as they took advantage of a yellow card for centre Owen Williams and put six more points on the board with another penalty apiece from Wight and Bennett.

Cardiff responded well in the second-half once they were returned to their full complement and the visitors would have been sniffing victory when two more penalties and an impressive long-range drop-goal from Patchell gave them a 15-12 lead going into the final quarter of an hour.

The crucial moment came with just over ten minutes remaining though as Tommy Seymour produced a moment of quality to score the game's only try. The replacement picked the ball up off his toes and stepped his way between Bradley Davies and Macauley Cook on his way to the line.

Ruaridh Jackson, fresh off the bench, completed the scoring with the conversion and a penalty and the match finished in a perhaps fittingly scrappy manner with both Cook and Richie Vernon being sent to the sin bin late on.

Glasgow won't mind one bit though as they started this season with another win at Scotstoun to go with the seven they won on the bounce at home at the end of the last campaign.

The scorers:

For Glasgow Warriors:
Try: Seymour
Con: Jackson
Pen: Wight 2, Bennett 2, Jackson

For Cardiff Blues:
Pen: Patchell 4
Drop: Patchell

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Peter Murchie, 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Byron McGuigan, 10 Scott Wight, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Richie Vernon, 7 Chris Fusaro, 6 Rob Harley, 5 Al Kellock (c), 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Ed Kalman, 2 Pat MacArthur, 1 Jerry Yanuyanutawa.
Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Moray Low, 19 Tyrone Holmes, 20 Jonny Gray, 21 Chris Cusiter, 22 Ruaridh Jackson, 23 Tommy Seymour.

Cardiff Blues: 15 Tom Williams, 14 Harry Robinson, 13 Owen Williams, 12 Gavin Evans, 11 Chris Czekaj, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Robin Copeland, 7 Josh Navidi, 6 Macauley Cook, 5 Filo Paulo, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 Matthew Rees (c), 1 Taufa'ao Filise.
Replacements: 16 Marc Breeze, 17 Sam Hobbs, 18 Benoit Bourrust, 19 James Down, 20 Luke Hamilton, 21 Lewis Jones, 22 Gareth Davies, 23 Dafydd Hewitt.

Referee: Dudley Phillips (Ireland)
Assistant referees: David Changleng (Scotland), Graeme Marshall (Scotland)