Details

Date Time Competition Season
22 April 2023 7:35 pm United Rugby Championship 2022/23

Match Report

Connacht Fall Just Short Against The Warriors

Connacht came up agonisingly short in their final URC match of the season against Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun Stadium after producing a battling performance.

Warriors were already guaranteed fourth spot and a home quarter-final against Munster, while Connacht now face a trip to Ulster, and a wait to see if seventh place will be sufficient to qualify for next season's Champions Cup.

Shamus Hurley-Langton's try set up a thrilling finale, but Glasgow held out.

The sides split seven tries, five of them scored in an open first half.

Glasgow fired through several slick phases straight from kick-off, with Huw Jones and Stafford McDowall making good headway with powerful midfield bursts.

Then Rory Darge appeared on the scene to send Jones over for the game's opening try with neat back-handed offload.

Connacht bounced back immediately by forcing Jones to carry the ball back over his own line, and then pressurising the home scrum into conceding a penalty try.

Warriors’ scrum continued to struggle, but their play around the park was razor sharp, and they raced back into the lead in the 18th minute when Tom Jordan juggled the ball before streaking under the posts.

The home side lost Scott Cummings to the sin bin for an obstruction on Caolin Blade and Jack Carty kicked the three easy points for the visitors.

Connacht worked hard to take advantage of the extra man and were rewarded with the lead when No 8 Cian Prendergast burrowed over from a tap penalty, with Carty adding the extras.

Warriors did not panic however, and they struck back before Cummings had returned to the fray with Ali Price finishing off on the left after some sharp link play.

Cole Forbes thought he had scored try number three for Glasgow – who led 19-17 at the break – after Jordan and Jones capitalised on turnover ball, but the latter had knocked-on while being tackled and so it was chalked off.

Connacht were forced into a triple change at half-time, with Denis Buckley, Finlay Bealham and Prendergast all replaced.

There was no more scoring until the hour mark, when replacement Glasgow hooker Johnny Matthews went over at the back of a lineout maul and George Horne added the touchline conversion to make 26-17.

Connacht would not lie down though, and after Horne and Carty had exchanged penalties, a Shamus Hurley-Langton try converted by Carty made for a tense final five minutes – but Warriors held on.

Glasgow Warriors

15Huw Jones 23 Centre 1'
14Cole Forbes 21 Full-Back
13Stafford McDowall Centre
12Sam Johnson Centre
11Jamie Dobie 22 Scrum-Half
10Tom Jordan Fly-Half 16'
17'
9Ali Price Scrum-Half 32'
1Allan Dell 17 Prop
2Fraser Brown 16 Hooker
3Lucio Sordoni 18 Prop
4Scott Cummings Lock 23'
5Richie Gray 19 Lock
6Rory Darge Flanker
7Sione Vailanu No. 8
8Jack Dempsey No. 8
16Johnny Matthews 2 Hooker 61'
17Jamie Bhatti 1 Prop
18Zander Fagerson 3 Prop
19JP du Preez 5
20Lewis Bean
21Matt Fagerson 14 No. 8
22George Horne 11 Scrum-Half 17', 62'
73'
23Domingo Miotti 15

Connacht

15Tiernan O’Halloran 23 Full-Back
14John Porch Winger
13Thomas Farrell 22 Centre
12Cathal Forde Fly-Half
11Byron Ralston Winger
10Jack Carty Fly-Half 30', 76'
24', 67'
9Caolin Blade 21 Scrum-Half
1Denis Buckley 17 Prop
2Dylan Tierney-Martin 16 Hooker
3Finlay Bealham 18 Prop
4Oisin Dowling 19 Flanker
5Niall Murray Lock
6Josh Murphy Flanker
7Conor Oliver Flanker
8Cian Prendergast 20 Lock 29'
16Eoin De Buitlear 2 Hooker
17Peter Dooley 1 Prop
18Sam Illo 3 Prop
19Darragh Murray 4 Lock
20Shamus Hurley-Langton 8 Flanker 75'
21Kieran Marmion 9 Scrum-Half
22Tom Daly 13 Centre
23Shane Jennings 15 Centre

Past Meetings

(Round 11)
20 - 42
United Rugby Championship
Dexcom Stadium

Connacht v Glasgow Warriors

(Round 1)
28 - 24
PRO14
Dexcom Stadium

Connacht vs Glasgow Warriers

Ground

Scotstoun Stadium
Danes Drive, Glasgow City, Scotland, G14 9BH, United Kingdom

I am a Sports Journalism & PR graduate from Staffordshire University. During my time at Final Whistle, I have covered the LOI National League, international games and the Women’s National League. Outside of Final Whistle, I am a researcher for World Rugby and a writer for The Rugby Paper.