Rainbow Cup wins for Glasgow, Munster and Benetton

Adam Kyriacou
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Glasgow Warriors edged a seven-try thriller as they wrestled possession of the 1872 Cup back from Edinburgh thanks to a 29-19 win.

Richard Cockerill’s team had held the inter-city silverware for the last three years but tries from Cole Forbes, Fotu Lokotui, Fraser Brown and Kyle Steyn handed Warriors victory.

Edinburgh’s forward power saw Dave Cherry, Pierre Schoeman and Stuart McInally crash over but their late charge fell flat at Scotstoun.

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In a bad-tempered affair, both teams made use of the new captain’s challenge rule being trialled in the PRO14 Rainbow Cup to successfully alert referee Adam Jones to red card offences, with Edinburgh’s Mark Bennett and Warriors prop Oli Kebble sent off.

Gregor Townsend and Steve Tandy were in attendance to watch three of the men they recommended Warren Gatland call up to the British and Irish Lions, Edinburgh’s Duhan van der Merwe and the Glasgow duo Zander Fagerson and Ali Price.

And Price had a role in the opening try inside 15 minutes. With Glasgow already leading through a Ross Thompson penalty, the scrum-half’s short-ball for Forbes caught Edinburgh completely by surprise as the full-back darted past the sleeping WP Nel to score.

But the first signs that disciplinary standards would slip came after 20 minutes as hooker Brown’s needless shove on Van der Merwe when Glasgow had already won a penalty proved costly.

It gave the visitors field position in the Warriors 22 and they made the most of their territory gain as Cherry scored off a well-worked lineout maul.

Glasgow went straight up the pitch to score again 90 seconds later as Fotu Lokotui wriggled over.

But when Warriors lock Rob Harley was sin-binned after ignoring repeated warnings about breakdown infringements, Schoeman was able to take advantage to squeeze over for another Edinburgh score.

Then came the TMO drama as Glasgow skipper Brown used the most of his new powers to alert the officials to Bennett’s high hit on Price.

Harley was just making his way back on before the interval when Glasgow were back to 14 men as Edinburgh captain Grant Gilchrist complained about Kebble’s elbow on Henry Pyrgos.

Danny Wilson would have been furious with the prop’s moment of madness but his half-time mood was brightened by the sight of Brown crashing over between the posts for Glasgow’s third.

The rule experiment meant both sides were able to replace their dismissed players after a 20-minute period – but Glasgow had already chalked up the bonus point by then as Forbes’ long pass found the unmarked Steyn to dot down in the corner.

Edinburgh hit back with their third as McInally hared off the back of a maul to score down the short side.

They were given late hope when Richie Gray was sin-binned as Warriors coughed up penalty after penalty. But McInally was denied his second by Ratu Tagive’s last-gasp challenge.

Munster continue winning start to campaign

Conor Murray celebrated his British & Irish Lions selection with a try in Munster’s 38-10 PRO14 Rainbow Cup thumping of Ulster at Thomond Park.

Rory Scannell and Mike Haley also touched down to make it 19-3 at half-time, the latter score coming after Ulster’s Will Addison was sent off for a high tackle.

Ulster captain Iain Henderson snapped back with an early second-half score, but a dominant Munster made it back-to-back victories as Scannell, JJ Hanrahan and Andrew Conway made it a six-try success.

Tadhg Beirne, the second of Munster’s 2021 Lions, was slow to roll away, allowing Michael Lowry to kick the visitors ahead from a second-minute penalty.

Ulster showed early dynamism in midfield, with Addison and Stuart McCloskey both making yards, but Munster conjured up the game’s opening try.

After getting involved with Addison to spark a short-lived brawl, Rory Scannell then popped up with a clever dummy to score in the 10th minute. A monster carry by Gavin Coombes had set up the seven-pointer.

A swift outside break had the returning Dan Goggin inches away before Murray flopped over from a 26th-minute ruck. Hanrahan missed the difficult conversion from the left.

Ulster openside Marcus Rea’s relieving penalty denied Coombes at close range, and although Hanrahan missed a subsequent penalty, Munster’s pace and penetration earned them further opportunities.

Approaching the interval, a TMO review ended with Addison seeing red for a late and high hit which made contact with Shane Daly’s head. Poor Ulster tackling then allowed Haley to speed over from replacement Damian De Allende’s short pass.

Five Ulster replacements at the break saw them build immediate pressure, with 2021 Lion Henderson muscling over following a series of pick-and-goes. Lowry’s converted cut the gap to 19-10.

However, that was as close as Dan McFarland’s men could get to their in-form rivals. Centre Scannell intercepted a Lowry pass for a 45-metre run-in for the bonus point with 54 minutes on the clock.

Scannell turned provider five minutes later, sending Hanrahan scampering over for a slick try from the edge of the Ulster 22. The fly-half also converted to complete his 13-point haul.

Munster’s smothering defence thwarted Ulster from a series of opportunities, including mauls. Even when skipper Peter O’Mahony was sin-binned for repeated penalties, a clever Scannell kick found an unmarked Conway for a closing 78th-minute try.

Two victories out of two for Benetton

Earlier, Benetton followed up their shock win over Glasgow by claiming a 25-20 victory at Italian rivals Zebre.

The Treviso outfit’s triumph against the Warriors last month came after they failed to win a single game during the regular PRO14 season, in which they lost twice to Zebre.

However, they now have two wins from two in the Rainbow Cup following a hard-fought derby in Parma.

Edoardo Padovani went over for the visitors in the first half, but a penalty try helped Zebre go in level at 10-10 at the break as Benetton ended the opening period with 13 men.

Paolo Garbisi and Carlo Canna then exchanged penalties before Federico Ruzza touched down to help Benetton into a 20-13 lead.

Canna looked to have rescued a draw for Zebre when he converted his own try five minutes from time, but Toa Halafihi had the final say ahead of a rematch between the sides in Treviso next weekend.

Benetton Treviso