WARRIORS 18 – 22 BIARRITZ

Glasgow Warriors came agonisingly close to making a dream start to their Heineken Cup campaign at home to Biarritz this afternoon.

All first half points came from the boot as both Glasgow stand-off Dan Parks and Biarritz scrum-half Dimitri Yashvili.  Each slotted four penalties to tie the game at 12-12 at the break.

Despite Parks’ boot adding six second-half points to Glasgow’s tally, Magnus Lund’s converted try was too much to overcome.

After the game, a despondent Glasgow head coach, Sean Lineen, said: “We lost but we weren’t out-played. We lost that game, they didn’t win it. What we didn’t get right was the set-piece, it just wasn’t up to European standard, which proved costly.”

The Glasgow playmaker opened the scoring with an early double penalty from distance at either side of the Firhill pitch to give the home side an early 6-0 lead.

He then cleanly struck a third meaning that after just 15 minutes Glasgow were looking comfortable with a 9-0 lead.

However, despite the good start and the majority of play, Glasgow were penalised for not rolling away at the breakdown and Yachvili made no mistake with the resulting penalty.

Well worked phase play from the visitors saw the ball lined up in front of the posts on the Glasgow 22. The ball was then spun back to the awaiting centre Damien Traille who calmly slotted a drop-goal to claw back another three points.

The kickers then showed their deadly form as Parks sailed an incredible 60 metre penalty through the posts before Yachvili cancelled out Parks’ awesome effort with a long range kick from the right touchline.

Glasgow started to up the pace of the game but often struggled to find the cutting edge and make tangible breaks. But they did work the ball up the park patiently and into the Biarritz half.

Parks, perhaps guilty of trying to do too much, miss-hit a rushed close range drop-goal moments before Biarritz clawed back second drop-goal, this time from full-back Marcello Bosch, to make it all square the break.

Half-time: Glasgow Warriors 12-12 Biarritz

French indiscipline in their own 22 cost them dear once again and Parks continued his perfect kicking performance from the deck to put Glasgow back in the lead after just one minute of the second-half.

However, despite getting their noses in front, the end-to-end nature of the game – both with ball in hand and from positional kicks – there was a very clear sense that this game could go either way.

Minutes later Glasgow felt a little rub of the green as Biarritz missed two back-to-back kicking opportunities to draw level.

But that luck ended shortly after when Biarritz spoiled a Glasgow lineout deep in the host’s 22 and powered over.

The crowd waited anxiously for the Television Match Official who awarded the first try of the match to English internationalist Magnus Lund before Yachvili added the extras to put Biarritz in the lead for the first time.

The change in fortune was later compounded when Parks put a long range penalty just wide of the posts though he soon made amends with a nice close range drop-goal to put Warriors within a single point. The Basque side extended their lead shortly after with a long range penalty from Yachvili.

Time ticked by and the Glasgow supporters willed their team on for one last push as repeated phase play from a set-piece scrum put the crowd at fever pitch.

The ball was worked from the touchline five metres out to Parks who delicately chipped over the rushing blitz defence only to see replacement winger Hefin O’Hare who was just beaten to it by American flyer Takudzwa Ngwenya before the visitors came equally close at the other end.

Thom Evans received the ball from a return kick in the 22 and backed himself through the middle but was exposed without support and turned over. Biarritz chipped through to Ngwenya who was unfortunate to knock the bouncing ball on inches from the try line.

Parks continued with his composed kicking to keep Glasgow out of trouble though Biarritz continued to do enough damage to keep Glasgow pinned deep inside their own half.

With one minute to go and four points in it, Glasgow had to go for broke and, with the crowd on their feet, set up camp deep in the Biarritz half but despite close run efforts from Dave McCall and Thom Evans they couldn’t get the vital score.

Fulltime: Glasgow Warriors 18-22 Biarritz

Heineken Man of the Match: Dimitri Yashvili (Biarritz)

Glasgow Warriors: Bernardo Stortoni; DTH van der Merwe, Dave McCall, Rob Dewey, Thom Evans; Dan Parks, Colin Gregor; Jon Welsh, Dougie Hall, Moray Low, Tim Barker, Alastair Kellock CAPTAIN, Richie Vernon, John Barclay, Johnnie Beattie
Substitutes: Pat MacArthur, Kevin Tkachuk, Ed Kalman, Dan Turner, Mark McMillan, Hefin O'Hare, Peter Horne, Kelly Brown

Biarritz Olympique: Marcelo Bosch; Takudzwa Ngwenya, Ayoola Erinle, Damien Traille, Nicolas Brusque ; Julien Peyrelongue, Dimitri Yachvili; Eduard Coetzee, Romain Terrain, Campbell Johnstone, Jerome Thion CAPTAIN, Pelu Taele, Magnus Lund, Imanol Harinordoquy, Florian Faure
Substitutes: Benoit August, Fabien Barcella, Mosese Moala, Manuel Carizza, Wenceslas Lauret, Yann Lesgourgues, Valentin Courrent, Laurent Tranier

Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU)