Glasgow Warriors grabbed the bonus point win they were hoping to achieve tonight in the final game of the 2008/09 Magners League campaign.

Speaking at the end of a season full of thrills and spills, Warriors head coach Sean Lineen said: “What we will take from that game is the points.

“I’m really happy with some of the young talent coming through. Richie Gray was outstanding and Calum Forrester backed-up last weekend’s performance with a cracker tonight.

“James Eddie, Pat MacArthur and Jon Welsh are also looking very impressive.

“The team tonight was low in confidence but showed tremendous character to get the win.”

The first half was a fairly timid affair with sporadic crunching tackles coming from the Glasgow defence amidst the pouring rain.

Two minutes into the half, scrum-half Colin Gregor stepped up to the mark and slotted his first penalty opportunity.

It took just three minutes for Connacht stand-off Ian Keatley to cancel Gregor’s attempt. A further attempt at goal, this one for the lead, was thwarted as his attempt went wide of the mark.

As Glasgow pounded the Connacht line, center Graeme Morrison chipped through for Colin Shaw. Fullback Nathan Troy padded the ball into touch and was subsequently binned for the offence.

With the fullback relieved of his duties for ten minutes, the ball was worked left and Lome Fa’atau sent a neat grubber through the Connacht defence. Colin Shaw has the gas to beat his opposite man to theball and touched down.

Two further Connacht penalties from Keatley gave Connacht the edge at the break.

Half-time score: Warriors 8-9 Connacht

Following a host of decision-making errors, Ruaridh Jackson was substituted at half-time and Colin Gregor moved into the stand-off berth. Mark McMillan came on to cover scrum-half.

Keatley missed a penalty strike to stretch Connacht’s lead, but it was Gregor who snatched the initiative four minutes later with a timely kick at goal.

The Glasgow attack then became jumbled out wide. Hefin O’Hare, who was lively at centre all night, seized his opportunity and cut back inside. His evasive running carved a path through the Connacht defence and he dotted down. Gregor missed the conversion.

As the game crept into injury time, Glasgow found their third score from a five-meter scrum. Moray Low picked up and dived over. Gregor converted.

The bonus point was all that was left on Glasgow’s shopping list. A terrific break from replacement hooker Eric Milligan unleashed O’Hare who was never in any doubt about where he was going. He touched down between the posts to set up an easy conversion for Gregor who slotted it.

Glasgow Warriors: Bernardo Stortoni; Lome Fa’atau, Hefin O’Hare, Graeme Morrison, Colin Shaw; Ruaridh Jackson, Colin Gregor; Kevin Tkachuk, Pat MacArthur (Ayr)*, Moray Low, Richie Gray, Alastair Kellock CAPTAIN, James Eddie, Kelly Brown, Calum Forrester
Replacements: Mark McMillan for Jackson (half-time), Dan Turner for Kellock (59 mins), Stevie Swindall for Eddie (67 mins), Eric Milligan for MacArthur (73 mins), Jose Maria Nunez Piossek for Shaw (77 mins)
Unused: Jon Welsh, Peter Horne (West of Scotland)*

* = Member of Scottish Rugby’s Contracted National Academy

Connacht: Troy Nathan; Fionn Carr, Gavin Duffy, Keith Matthews, Liam Bibo; Ian Keatley, Frank Murphy; Brett Wilkinson, Adrian Flavin, Ronan Loughney; Michael Swift, Andrew Farley; Andrew Browne, Ray Ofisa, John Muldoon CAPTAIN
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Conor Higgins, David Gannon, Colm Rigney, Conor O’Loughlin, Andy Dunne, Mel Deane

Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU)