| OSPREYS 9-9 WARRIORS |
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| Friday, 30 October 2009 | |
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Glasgow Warriors left the Liberty Stadium with two points after a hard fought draw (9-9) with Ospreys in miserable conditions – the result temporarily elevates Glasgow to second in the Magners League. Both sides endeavored to offer the crowd running rugby but, with so many errors coming through slippery conditions, it was no surprise that there was plenty of kicking both for points and to test the opposition under the high ball. In the end, however, the boot provided all the game’s points with Glasgow Warriors’ Dan Parks and Osprey’s Gareth Owen taking three apiece. Glasgow Warrior’s head coach, Sean Lineen, paid tribute to his squad for securing the draw in testing weather. He said: “The conditions meant that both teams made a lot of mistakes on the ball but I’m delighted with the way the boys stuck and never gave up.” The home side were first to take the lead after 10 minutes when Al Kellock was adjudged to have entered the ruck from the side – the first of three converted penalties given away by the Warriors for this offence, 3-0. Glasgow responded well with some good running rugby but, as was to be case for both sides, the difficult conditions made even the simplest of passes problematic. In such weather, however, Glasgow have a vital weapon in the form of Parks, who struck the ball cleanly and accurately throughout – including an 18 minutes penalty which evened the score, 3-3. In addition to the kicking from Parks, the conditions, while hindering the Warriors’ attempts to run the ball, did offer an alerative attacking platform in that Ospreys’ knock-ons would, naturally, result in a Glasgow scrum. This allowed the visitors to exert their front-row dominance, with 20-stone Moray Low the ideal conduate of a pack two stones heavier than their Welsh opponents. Despite good field position and pressure from the scrum, Glasgow were again penalised for entering the ruck at the side and Owen duly doubled the host’s tally with his boot before wing Colin Shaw was called into action with a superb – potentially try-saving – tackle with eight minutes remaining as the Ospreys begin to feature more in the contest. Despite their heroics, minutes later Glasgow’s fate lay in the hands of the TMO who was asked to make the all-important call on a potential Ospreys attempt on the Glasgow try line, though he rightly recognised the ball as grounded just short. The result was a crucial scrum before the half, and one which the Glasgow pack can be proud after they wheeled the set-piece and regained possession, allowing Parks to kick the Warriors into safety. Glasgow then had one final chane in the half but, agonisingly, Parks’ penalty kick deflected off the right upright and this sides trotted three points apart at the interval. HALF TIME: 6-3 Despite both kickers offering the only tangible product from the on-field effort, there was plenty of potential and intent; at the heart of which were the trademark breaks of scrum-half Chris Cusiter and inside-centre Graeme Morrison, who gladly put his weight behind managable popped passes as he forced his way into and through tackles. That being said, the Ospreys fearsome defence would not give away yards yards cheaply, with the typical breakdown activity of Ospreys All Black, Jerry Collins, making things tough. It was then that Glasgow were penalised for entering from the side for a third time and, with the kick in range, Owen made no mistake (9-3). The Ospreys continued their strong defensive efforts as Glasgow pounded into their blitz defence before Cusiter sparked a great break, slipped the ball to Barclay who, with an expert touch to defy the downpour, passed to fellow flanker Kelly Brown. The ever industrious Brown made great headway into the opposition 22 and – with the referee signaling ‘advantage’ to Glasgow –Parks went for the speculative drop-goal in the knowledgte he would have second attempt from the deck. Parks took his second beautifully from out wide on the right to bring Glasgow right back into the game. It was then that Warriors’ head coach Sean Lineen opted to make some changes with Dan Turner coming on at lock for Al Kellock and Richie Vernon joining the action for Johnnie Beattie. Canadian internationalist prop, Kevin Tkachuk, replaced Jon Welsh while Cusiter left the field for the man responsible for putting Thom Evans through for his bonus point try against Connacht last week, Mark MacMillan. Full-back Bernardo Stortoni then left the field for Colin Gregor and hooker Fergus Thomson made his long awaited return to Glasgow after a long injury lay-off. He replaced Dougie Hall. Scotland’s plethora of world-class scrum-halfs was underlined when MacMillan showed great use of the boot from behind the ruck to put added pressure on the Ospreys. Having worked the ball upfield, Glasgow were awarded a scrum on the Ospreys 5m line which the Glasgow pack were noticably relishing. However, after three resets and deterioating conditions, Parks made the call to kick his penalty offering through the sticks and draw the game. Then, with the game all but over, the Ospreys were offered – and squandered – an excellent chance to nick the game. With the ball tucked tightly up the jumper, the Ospreys took short ball after short ball in the centre of the field, waiting on the perfect chance to send the ball back to the pocket for the drop-goal attempt. But in torrential condidtions perfect opportunities are rare and Owen was offered poor ball by his scrum-half and hooked the resulting drop-goal attempt to end the game even stevens. FULL TIME: 9-9 Lineen added: “Our game plan was always to play a much more expansive game but the ball was like a bar of soap. That being said to get two points on the road against the Ospreys is an improvement and puts in good shape at the moment considering there hasn’t been an awful lot going our way in terms of tonight’s weather, injuries and illnesses etc. ”The weather was a great leveler unfortunately for us as we had a very strong side out. I think our scrum was outstanding, the front row were fantastic while Dan Parks controlled the game really well.” GLASGOW WARRIORS TEAM v OSPREYS OSPREYS TEAM v GLASGOW Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (IRFU) |
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