GLASGOW ended a disappointing Champions Cup campaign on a high with a battling victory over the Pool 3 winners at Rugby Park in Kilmarnock – but it may have come at a price for Scotland. Alex Dunbar, who began the match with his right thigh strapped up, limped off in the second half. The centre’s withdrawal was only a precaution, according to Gregor Townsend, the Warriors coach, but even so it will be a concern to Vern Cotter.
With Mark Bennett and Peter Horne already out of action, the Scotland coach’s room for manoeuvre at centre is already narrow. Of the centres named last week in the squad of 35 for the Six Nations Championship, only Matt Scott and Duncan Taylor would be fit to play today.
“He missed three weeks with a groin/hamstring strain,” Townsend said. “He felt something twinge there when he was going for the ball. He just felt it tighten again – he doesn’t think it’s as bad as last time.”
Dunbar is due to meet up with the rest of the national squad in St Andrews today, and will be assessed there. Having been forced to sit out those recent matches, he is likely to need another game before being deemed fit to play in the Calcutta Cup against England in 13 days.
Apart from that concern over Dunbar, Townsend was delighted his team had a result that should stand them in good stead for the resumption of the PRO12 next weekend. He was also relieved the result brought a run of four defeats to an end.
“It took a lot of effort,” he said. “You could tell from the beginning that Racing were here to win – I thought they defended outstandingly. I thought right throughout our team there were some excellent performances. It was a good win for us.
“The test we got in the set-piece – I felt we did really well there. That was a top-quality side and we’re not going to come up against teams like Racing every week.”
The match at Rugby Park was watched by a record attendance – 9603 – for a Warriors European game, but the crowd had to be patient throughout a dull first half before enjoying a livelier second period. Finn Russell opened the scoring with a fifth-minute penalty, but for almost the entire half after that the game became bogged down in a midfield battle.
In the final 10 minutes of the half a crossfield punt from Russell was perfectly placed for Taqele Naiyaravoro to run on to, but the winger fumbled when a clean take would have given him a good chance of scoring. Racing ended the half on top, but the teams went in with the score still 3-0.
After six minutes of the second half, Russell doubled that lead with a penalty from the edge of the Racing 22.
Dunbar then limped off, to be replaced by Lee Jones. That did not disrupt Glasgow’s self-confidence, however, and after 55 minutes they were on the scoreboard again. A forward drive was held up on the French line, and when the ball came back Sam Johnson ran a dummy line allowing Russell to put Stuart Hogg through. The stand-off converted the full-back’s score, then added another penalty a few minutes later.
With 15 minutes left, Cedate Gomes Sa reduced the deficit with a try, but Brice Dulin’s conversion went wide. Duncan Weir, who had come off the bench to make his 100th Warriors appearance, eased his team away again with a penalty, and added another with three minutes to play.
GLASGOW: Try: Hogg. Con: Russell. Pens: Russell 3, Weir 2.
RACING 92: Try: Gomes Sa.
Glasgow Warriors: S Hogg; T Naiyaravoro, A Dunbar (L Jones 50), S Johnson, T Seymour; F Russell (D Weir 63), A Price (G Hart 63); A Allan (J Malcolm 57), S Mamukashvili (J Yanuyanutawa 57), S Puafisi (Z Fagerson 57), G Peterson (S Cummings 70), J Gray, J Eddie, S Favaro (C Fusaro 53), L Nakarawa.
Racing 92: B Dulin; L Dupichot, H Chavancy (E Dussartre 64), A Dumoulin, M Andreu; R Tales (B Dambielle 70), M Machenaud (X Chauveau 50); J Brugnaut (V Lacombe 50), C Chat (D Khinchagishvili 50), L Ducalcon (C Gomes Sa 50), L Charteris, F Van der Merwe (J Kruger 71), W Lauret, B Le Roux (T Dubarry 67), C Masoe.
Referee: W Barnes (England). Attendance: 9,063.
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