Lyon 22-42 Glasgow Warriors

• 8 Dec 2018

The Warriors started the game brightly and got the first points through an Adam Hastings penalty after just three minutes.

Lyon responded with a penalty of their own to level the scores, before a dominant scrum handed the Warriors another opportunity and Hastings once again pushed his side into the lead.

A minute later the Warriors were forced into an early change with hooker Fraser Brown being replaced by George Turner in the front-row.

On 20 minutes Dave Rennie’s men scored the first try of the game.

After going through the phases in the Lyon 22 a huge gap opened up for George Horne who sniped through and offloaded to Adam Ashe to dot down. Hastings converted and the Warriors led 13-3.

The home side once again responded but this time with seven points. Lyon continued to press and when they threw a ball out wide New Zealander Toby Arnold was there to score in the corner. Jonathan Pelissie converted from out wide which reduced the gap to 13-10.

Glasgow finished the half brightly and extended their lead two minutes before the break. The Warriors won a penalty and kicked deep into the Lyon 22. From the resulting line-out the forwards trucked it up for several phases, stretching the Lyon defence and George Horne spotted a gap and slipped through to dot down. Hastings added the extras and the Warriors led 20-10 at the break.

The first points of the second-half came in the 49th minute. Glasgow Warriors continued to stretch the home side’s defence with phase after phase of attack and won a penalty on the Lyon 22 almost in front of the posts. Hastings slotted the kick and the Warriors now led 23-10.

Lyon scored their second try of the game after 53 minutes. The ball was intercepted by a Lyon player inside their own 22 and he kicked it deep into the Warriors half. Nick Grigg did brilliantly to get back and dive on the ball, but the ref penalised him for holding on and Lyon took a quick penalty. They once again spread the ball wide and Noa Nakaitaci went over in the corner. The conversion was missed and the Warriors now led 23-15.

Glasgow responded almost immediately with a try of their own. Following a lovely chip through by Pete Horne Stuart Hogg managed to get his hand on the ball to dot down. The ref checked with the TMO but the try was awarded.

The Warriors had their fourth and bonus-point try after 61 minutes. Hastings picked up a loose pass in the Lyon 22, fended off a player, spun and put replacement Huw Jones in under the posts. Hastings converted and the Warriors increased their lead to 35-15.

Tim Swinson was shown a yellow card with around 15 minutes left to play following a number of penalties against the Warriors inside the Glasgow 22 and the home side immediately capitalised on the extra man. From a scrum five metres out they drove over for their third of the game. The Warriors’ lead was cut to 13 points (35-22).

With three minutes left to play Lyon replacement Charl McLeod knocked the ball on inside his own 22 and handed the Warriors a good attacking platform.

From the resulting scrum the Warriors scored their fifth try. Adam Ashe picked the ball up from the base of the scrum and dived over for his second of the game. Hastings converted to make it 42-22.

The Warriors players were elated when the final whistle went. Glasgow move up to the top of their Champions Cup pool for 24 hours at least, with Saracens and Cardiff Blues playing tomorrow.

Glasgow Warriors and Lyon meet again at Scotstoun in seven days.