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Half-time goose egg doesn't stop Glasgow from conquering Cardiff
By PA
Glasgow overturned a 13-0 half-time deficit to claim a hard-fought 17-13 home victory over Cardiff and move joint top of the United Rugby Championship.
The Welsh side arrived at Scotstoun as underdogs after winning just three of their previous 11 matches but – with the aid of a strong wind behind them – they bossed the scoreboard in the first half, with Ben Thomas’s try the highlight.
However, Glasgow took full advantage of the turnaround, with forwards Max Williamson and Lucio Sordoni both scoring their first tries for the club as they moved level with Leinster at the summit.
With the inclement conditions wreaking havoc, two Tinus De Beer penalties – in the fourth and 27th minutes – got the visitors up and running.
Glasgow – without a string of internationals after the Guinness Six Nations – were struggling in the face of a ferocious gale, but their defence did well to hold up the visitors after they had got over the line on the half-hour mark.
However, Cardiff did get the ball down just moments later when centre Thomas burst through to apply the finish after a brilliant flowing move involving Thomas Young, Ellis Bevan and De Beer, who proceeded to add the extras.
The interval represented a turning point. Glasgow got themselves up and running in the 43rd minute when lock Williamson found a lovely angle and darted over, with Duncan Weir converting.
Two minutes later, Cardiff were held up over the line for a second time and it proved pivotal as Glasgow edged themselves in front when prop Sordoni pushed over after a spell of pressure and Weir again converted.
The Welsh had a chance to get ahead once more on the hour but De Beer’s penalty came back off a post.
At the other end, Weir was on target with a 68th-minute penalty to open up a four-point lead. Glasgow thought they had put the game beyond their visitors three minutes later when Kyle Steyn finished off a lovely move, but it was chalked off for a forward pass.
It made for a nervy finale, but Warriors held their nerve to see out a narrow victory.
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I’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. Second, New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
Go to commentsThose are pretty good draws for the two top Aussie teams. I certainly wouldn't want my Chiefs to have a quarter final in Brisbane. None of the top teams will want the Crusaders.
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