Warriors collect bonus on the road

CHAMPIONS CUP REPORT: Glasgow Warriors bounced back from a defeat to Saracens last week to claim a bonus-point victory away to Cardiff Blues in their Pool Three encounter.

Adam Hastings gave Glasgow the perfect start, crossing over within three minutes and quick ball gave the Scottish side another opportunity, with DTH van der Merwe accelerating down the wing to dot down for a try. Hastings added the extras to put his side 12-0 ahead.

Hastings, who was named Heineken Man of the Match by Sport’s Martyn Williams, added another three points off the tee and sent Glasgow into the break leading 15-0 at Cardiff Arms Park.

It was not long after the break until Glasgow added a third try, with DTH van der Merwe involved once more, finding a hole in Cardiff’s defence and putting in scrum-half Ali Price under the sticks. Hastings added the two points.

Cardiff did manage to put points on the board through wing Aled Summerhill, after Jarrod Evans kicked the ball in behind for the Welshman to collect and score in the corner. However, Gareth Anscombe failed to convert his countryman’s effort.

Glasgow stepped it up once more in the last quarter and produced a terrific team try, which began with a scrum on their own five-metre line. Hastings shrugged off a couple of tackles and through excellent support play went 70 metres downfield.

The Scottish fly-half – who made 10 carries, 43 metres and scored 14 points – then put a neat grubber kick behind Blues’ defence for Matt Fagerson to collect and offload to Jonny Gray to score between the sticks.

Summerhill added a late consolation for Cardiff, diving over in the corner for his second, but it was not enough for last season’s Challenge Cup champions, with Glasgow the deserved winners.

Glasgow will head to Lyon next in Round 3, while Cardiff face the task of travelling to Allianz Park to face two-time champions Saracens.

The scorers:

For Cardiff Blues:

Tries: Summerhil 2

Con: Anscombe

For Glasgow Warriors:

Tries: Hastings, Van der Merwe, Price, Gray

Cons: Hastings 3

Pen: Hastings

Teams

Cardiff Blues: 15 Gareth Anscombe, 14 Aled Summerhill, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Willis Halaholo, 11 Jason Harries, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Ellis Jenkins (captain), 6 Olly Robinson, 5 Josh Turnbull, 4 George Earle, 3 Dillon Lewis, 2 Kristian Dacey, 1 Rhys Gill

Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Brad Thyer, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Rory Thornton, 20 Samu Manoa, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 Garyn Smith, 23 Matthew Morgan

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Tommy Seymour, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Ali Price, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Callum Gibbins (co-captain), 6 Ryan Wilson (co-captain), 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Rob Harley, 3 D’Arcy Rae, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Oli Kebble

Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Alex Allan, 18 Petrus du Plessis, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Chris Fusaro, 21 George Horne, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Niko Matawalu

Referee: Luke Pearce (England)

Assistant referees: Matthew Carley (England), Jonathan Healy (England)

TMO: Graham Hughes (England)