TEAMS thrive on emotion, but the best sides have the knack of staying cool no matter how hot the passions are burning.
This was a classic case in point. It was a comfortable win for Glasgow Warriors, who secured the bonus point that keeps them two points clear at the top of the Guinness PRO12, but it really was a case of their clinical edge beating the Irish side's fighting spirit.
Afterwards, Gregor Townsend, the Glasgow head coach, acknowledged that though his team had qualified for the play-offs the night before when Leinster's challenge ended in defeat in Belfast, his team will have to step up from this to stay top of the pile and keep that home semi-final in their sights.
"We defended really well close to our line but were in that area on too many occasions for our liking. It was great to get the win but we know we will have to play better as we move into semi-final time," he said. "We would probably have been happy to be only 6-5 down the way the first 35 minutes had gone to to be 19-6 up was fortunate - you have to make the most of your opportunities."
That really was the difference between the sides. Glasgow took their chances; Connacht did not. Two missed penalties and an interception run back in for a score by Niko Matawalu sucked the confidence from the Irish before the break. They rebuilt during the interval and got back to within six points when Ally Muldowney, who once played for Glasgow, touched down in a pile of bodies, but again Jack Carty, the fly-half, missed with a penalty and the Scots grabbed the momentum back.
Carty had claimed two early kicks, but Matawalu got his side on the scoreboard as he swapped wings to make the extra man in attack. Delightful offloading, including a classy back-flip from Tommy Seymour put Stuart Hogg in for the second and Matawalu seemed to have made the game safe on the stroke of half time with his intercept.
Connacht's ferocity and Glasgow's discipline, with both Seymour and Chris Fusaro, the flanker, spending time in the sin bin, caused more problems in the second half, but when Carty missed the chance to make it a three-point game, Glasgow capitalised and Josh Strauss crashed, before offloading to Adam Ashe for the bonus point try. The gloss came late on when Seymour finished a move he and Hogg had started in their own half.
"The goal is to finish in the top two," added Townsend. "We know to do that we have to win at least one of our last two matches and they are big games, Ospreys away and Ulster at home."
Among the great successes he highlighted was the work done by Jonny Gray as captain from the start for the first time. "It is a tough place to come and have your first experience of leading the team; he did really well," said Townsend. "There were times when we had to find solutions. He kept playing really well with his fantastic work rate. It was good to see Adam Ashe stand out, so for these young players to be standing up in an environment like that is great for the future of the club."
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