Glasgow fight back to beat Ospreys

MATCH REPORT: An impressive comeback from Glasgow Warriors saw them overturn a 0-10 deficit to win a hard-fought United Rugby Championship encounter 31-23 with Ospreys in Swansea.

Ospreys had no answer to Glasgow’s formidable line-out drive from which they scored all four of their tries.

Johnny Matthews scored two of them with Sione Vailanu and Allan Dell also on the try-scoring sheet. Duncan Weir converted all four and added a penalty.

Keiran Williams and Reuben Morgan-Williams scored Ospreys’ tries with Jack Walsh kicking three penalties and two conversions.

Ospreys made the better start to take a fifth-minute lead. Glasgow conceded two penalties in quick succession to give the hosts an attacking platform with Williams on hand to drive over from close range.

Ospreys soon came close to scoring a second when Mat Protheroe took advantage of inaccurate handling from the Scots to kick ahead. The wing looked a likely scorer but his second kick forward resulted in the ball running dead before he could ground it.

Williams’ converted try was the only score of a competitive first quarter with stubborn defence from the Welsh Region and poor handling from Glasgow preventing the visitors from drawing level.

Ospreys suffered an injury blow when try-scorer Williams was forced to leave the field to fail an HIA with Weir yellow carded for the high challenge.

Walsh kicked the resulting penalty with George North introduced to replace Williams.

Weir returned from the sin-bin in time to see his side come onto the scoreboard with Matthews crashing over from a line-out drive. Weir’s conversion left Glasgow three points adrift at the interval.

Four minutes after the restart, Matthews repeated the dose to put the visitors in front for the first time.

Glasgow’s pack became increasingly dominant and their line-out drive proved unstoppable with Vailanu crashing over for their third try.

A second penalty from Walsh kept Ospreys in contention before they scored the best try of the night. Skilful passing created space for Luke Morgan to make ground before he kicked ahead with Morgan-Williams winning the race to touchdown.

Walsh converted and succeeded with his third penalty but Weir first kicked a penalty before Dell scored their bonus-point try after Justin Tipuric was yellow carded.

Man of the match: Glasgow hooker Johnny Matthews kept up his remarkable try-scoring record with another two as Ospreys couldn’t cope with the Scots’ line-out drive. It was an all-action display from Matthews to play a key part in his side picking up a valuable five points.

The scorers:

For Ospreys:

Tries: Williams, Morgan-Williams

Cons: Walsh 2

Pens: Walsh 3

For Glasgow Warriors:

Tries: Matthews 2, Vailanu, Dell

Cons: Weir 4

Pen: Weir

Yellow cards: Duncan Weir (Glasgow, 24' - foul play, high tackle); Justin Tipuric (Ospreys, 77')

Teams:

Ospreys: 15 Max Nagy, 14 Luke Morgan, 13 Keiran Williams, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Mat Protheroe, 10 Jack Walsh, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Justin Tipuric (captain), 6 Harri Deaves, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Rhys Davies, 3 Ben Warren, 2 Dewi Lake, 1 Nicky Smith

Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Garyn Phillips, 18 Tom Botha, 19 James Fender, 20 James Ratti, 21 Luke Davies, 22 George North, 23 Dan Edwards

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Ollie Smith, 14 Sebastian Cancelliere, 13 Sione Tuipulotu, 12 Stafford McDowall (captain), 11 Kyle Rowe, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Jamie Dobie, 8 Henco Venter, 7 Sione Vailanu, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Sintu Manjezi, 3 Lucio Sordoni, 2 Johnny Matthews, 1 Jamie Bhatti.

Replacements: 16 Angus Fraser, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Greg Peterson, 20 Alex Samuel, 21 Ally Miller, 22 Sean Kennedy, 23 Tom Jordan.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)

Assistant Referees: Gwyn Morris (Wales), John Darcy (Wales)

TMO: Stefano Penne (Italy)