Glasgow win at Thomond Park

Editor

Glasgow responded to the Ospreys' win on Friday with a superb 22-5 triumph against Munster at the daunting Thomond Park.

Glasgow responded to the Ospreys' win on Friday with a superb 22-5 triumph over Munster in the daunting Thomond Park cauldron.

The Scottish outfit produced a stunning first half performance to go into the break with a 22-5 lead through Jonny Gray, Sean Maitland and Josh Strauss tries. CJ Stander crossed for the Irish province in the opening period but they were outplayed before the interval and Rob Penney's men couldn't find a response in the second half as the Warriors went away with an impressive victory.

Glasgow have been favourites for the final play-off spot for the majority of the campaign, but the Ospreys' surprise victory over Leinster put pressure on them to produce a result against Munster. Head coach Gregor Townsend would have therefore demanded an up tempo start and that was exactly what he got.

Just four minutes had elapsed when his team took a deserved lead as Gray finished off a fine passage of play by touching down. Duncan Weir then added a penalty to extend their advantage before the hosts reduced the deficit when a well worked move resulted in Stander going over. However, the Warriors weren't perturbed and duly upped the intensity.

Maitland started and finished a chance to take the visitors 15-5 ahead. Although Munster had opportunities to add to the score themselves, Glasgow were clinical inside the opposition 22 and Strauss touched down to give them a comfortable buffer at the break.

As the Irish province fought for a way back into the match, the game became scrappy as both sides searched for scores which would benefit their league position. While the home side were looking for a way to close the gap, the visitors were hoping to get a fourth try which would give them the bonus-point. They should have had that score when Ryan Wilson chose to back himself rather than pass to a teammate metres from the line, eventually being held up by good home defence. Neither team could muster a further opportunity and the half remained scoreless.

The scorers:

For Munster:
Try: Stander

For Glasgow:
Tries: Gray, Maitland, Strauss
Cons: Weir 2
Pen: Weir

The teams:

Munster: 15 Felix Jones, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Keith Earls, 12 James Downey, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 JJ Hanrahan, 9 Conor Murray, 8 James Coughlan (c), 7 Sean Dougall, 6 CJ Stander, 5 Dave Foley, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Duncan Casey, 1 John Ryan
Replacements: 16 Quentin MacDonald, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Alan Cotter, 19 Billy Holland, 20 Paddy Butler, 21 Duncan Williams, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Johne Murphy.

Glasgow: 15 Peter Murchie, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Alex Dunbar, 12 Finn Russell, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Chris Cusiter (c), 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Chris Fusaro, 6 Josh Strauss, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Gordon Reid
Replacements: 16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Jerry Yanuyanutawa, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Leone Nakarawa, 20 Rob Harley, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Peter Horne, 23 Richie Vernon.

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wal)
Assistant referees: Gary Conway, David Connolly (both Ire)
TMO: Alan Rogan (Ire)