AN INSPIRED comeback by Glasgow kept their hopes of a Champions Cup place next season alive. Ospreys are still favourites to hold on to third place in PRO14 Conference A - and the losing bonus they got here could prove vital - but the Warriors have at least kept the pressure up on the Welsh side.
They did that despite having two men carded for the third game in a row, with Ollie Smith being sinbinned in the first half and TJ Ioane following late in the second. And they claimed the win the hard way on the scoreboard too, as they fell 3-15 behind at one point before the boot of Ross Thompson got them back into the contest.
Ospreys took the lead in the fourth minute with an unconverted try by Morgan Morris, and a tricky start then got a lot worse for the home team when the Ospreys were controversially awarded a penalty try, with Glasgow full-back Smith being yellow-carded into the bargain for a deliberate knock-on.
That made it 12-0 to the visitors, and Glasgow needed to get a foothold in the game quickly. They did it, too, with a straightforward Ross Thompson penalty, but midway through the half a no-arms tackle from Aki Seiuli allowed Luke Price to restore his team’s 12-point lead from in front of the posts.
With Smith back on, the Warriors started to gain the upper hand, and a couple of dominant scrums set up a good position. But the Ospreys defence again proved equal to the task, winning a turnover on their own five-metre line.
Thompson was on target with a longer-range penalty after half an hour, then made it three out of three with the boot a few minutes later. That made it 9-15 and put a far brighter complexion on the match from a Glasgow point of view as the half-time whistle blew.
The Ospreys upped the tempo at the start of the second half in a bid to regain control, and when full-back Dan Evans burst into the Warriors 22 a try was on the cards. But a tackle from Smith dislodged the ball, and Lee Jones scooped it up and ran almost the length of the pitch to touch down between the posts. Thompson converted, and Glasgow were ahead for the first time in the match at 16-15.
Ospreys were far from finished, though, and when Smith was forced to touch down behind his own line, the visitors had a scrum five. A clean feed saw them drive at the line four times, and in the end No 8 Gareth Evans was credited with the try, which Price converted.
With Jamie Dobie on at scrum-half, Glasgow’s attack became slicker and quicker, and a brilliant kick ahead by Thompson was collected by Rufus McLean for a score in the right corner. The stand-off added the two points to the winger’s score, and Glasgow were ahead again at 23-22.
A long-range Price penalty went wide as Ospreys tried to hit back, but the Warriors then went further ahead when Seiuli scored off the back of a lineout. Thompson’s conversion made it 30-22.
With ten minutes left TJ Ioane was sent to the bin for a professional foul, and Price scored from the penalty to reduce the gap to five. But the 14 men had just enough energy left to hold on for that win that gives them a glimmer of hope.
Scorers
Glasgow: Tries: Jones, McLean, Seiuli. Cons: Thompson 3. Pens: Thompson 3.
Ospreys: Tries: Morris, penalty try, G Evans. Con: Price. Pens: Price 2.
Glasgow Warriors: O Smith (I Keatley 68); R McLean, N Grigg (I Keatley 7-13), R Fergusson, L Jones; R Thompson, S Kennedy (J Dobie 49); A Seiuli (D Evans 71), G Stewart (J Matthews 48-57, 73), E Pieretto, J Scott (K McDonald 55), L Nakarawa, R Harley, T Gordon (T Ioane 60), R Wilson (captain). Unused substitutes: D Rae, R Tagive.
Ospreys: D Evans (captain); D Cross, O Watkin (T Thomas-Wheeler 55), J Hawkins, K Giles; L Price, R Morgan-Williams; G Phillips (R Henry 17), I Phillips (D Lake 62), M Fia, L Ashley (O Cracknell 62), R Davies, W Griffiths, M Morris, G Evans (S Cross 62). Unused substitutes: T Botha, S Venter, J Thomas.
Yellow cards: Glasgow: Smith 13, Ioane 70.
Referee: S Grove-White (Scotland).
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