Glasgow Warriors v Leicester Tigers: Five takeaways as Henco Venter ’empties the tank’ while visitors’ discipline proves costly
Glasgow Warriors back-row Henco Venter takes on the Leicester Tigers defence.
Following Glasgow Warriors’ 43-19 win over Leicester Tigers in their Investec Champions Cup clash at Scotstoun on Saturday, Planet Rugby picks out five takeaways from the thrilling action.
The top line
The United Rugby Championship champions delivered a brilliant performance as they held the upper hand for long periods and eventually sealed a memorable victory over their Premiership rivals.
The Tigers were fastest out of the blocks and raced into the lead when Olly Cracknell crossed for the opening try after just three minutes but the Warriors soon took control of proceedings as they raced into a 17-5 lead at half-time after back-rowers Henco Venter and Sione Vailanu crossed for tries and Adam Hastings added a penalty.
The hosts continued to dominate after the interval and their free-flowing style provided Tigers’ defence with plenty of headaches and Vailanu scored his second five-pointer early in the second half before Adam Hastings increased the Warriors’ lead with a five-pointer.
Another converted try from George Horne meant the home side were cruising with the score 38-5 in their favour before Leicester launched a mini fightback which saw Solomone Kata and Hanro Liebenberg crossing the whitewash.
However, Glasgow would have the final say as Venter dotted down again in the game’s dying moments to underline his side’s dominance after a superb all-round display.
The result means that Glasgow Warriors will now head to Dublin for their Champions Cup quarter-final with Leinster, who made a statement of intent as they romped to a 62-0 triumph over Harlequins at Croke Park earlier on Saturday.
Glasgow Warriors forwards lay the platform
The home side were deserved winners as they dominated this encounter for long periods and eventually outscored their hapless opponents by six tries to three.
Although the entire squad deserve credit for this fantastic result, it all started up front where the Warriors forwards overshadowed their counterparts in the tight exchanges.
In the scrums, Glasgow Warriors’ starting props Zander Fagerson and Nathan McBeth gave a good account of themselves as they held the upper-hand at the set-piece, while the hosts’ lineout work was excellent throughout and used as an attacking launchpad throughout.
That helped the home side race into a 38-5 lead by the 52nd minute and although head coach Franco Smith rang the changes to his pack shortly afterwards, the replacements continued with the good work especially in the scrums where they continued to put the Tigers under pressure.
Henco Venter delivers the goods
With his tight forwards in fine form, the South African number eight gave his team excellent momentum from the base and combined superbly with his flankers Vailanu and and Matt Fagerson.
Venter emptied the tank with an energetic all-round performance as he took the fight to the Tigers with his brilliance on attack, where he made several barnstorming runs, while he also did his bit on defence where he stopped several Tigers attacks with some solid tackles.
The 33-year-old’s attacking prowess was rewarded with his two tries and although Vailanu ran him close Venter was a worthy recipient of the official man-of-the-match award after the game.
Adam Hastings shows his class
The Scotland international only returned to action in recent weeks after a long injury lay-off due to a broken jaw but he delivered a brilliant all-round display and was influential for the full 80 minutes.
The fly-half shone as a playmaker as he made his mark with brilliant distribution which created try-scoring opportunities for his team-mates while his game management was also superb throughout.
The 28-year-old brilliant attacking ability was eventually rewarded with a try after running onto a well-time pass from half-back partner George Horne and the fly-half eventually finished with an 18-point contribution as he also slotted five conversions and a penalty.
Leicester’s poor discipline proves costly
While the Warriors finished this match as deserved winners, Leicester Tigers head Michael Cheika will not be happy with his side’s discipline – or lack thereof – as they conceded a plethora of penalties which only made things easier for their opponents.
It did not help their cause that they had to play with 14 men for twenty minutes after Jack van Poortvliet and Cameron Henderson were both yellow carded for cynical defensive fouls.
And Glasgow made full use of their numerical advantage on both occasions as they scored 35 points during that 20-minute period when Leicester had 14 players on the field.
Apart from those two incidents, the Tigers eventually conceded a whopping 15 penalties which will be a big concern for Cheika as they now turn their focus to qualiying for the Premiership play-offs.
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