Glasgow Warriors 42-13 Leicester Tigers: Glasgow make early Champions Cup statement
Last Updated: 15/10/16 7:20am
Glasgow opened their Champions Cup campaign with a 42-13 thrashing of Leicester at Scotstoun on Friday night.
The Warriors were under pressure early on after an Adam Thompstone try and five points from the boot of Owen Williams had the Tigers 10-3 ahead, with Finn Russell offering a lone penalty for the home side.
But in a frenetic 10-minute period Leonardo Sarto, Fraser Brown and Henry Pyrgos crossed the whitewash to put Glasgow 24-13 up at half-time.
Leicester came out strongly after the break, but it wasn't long before the Warriors squeezed the life out of the visitors. Mark Bennett plucked the ball from a Tigers pass to run in the bonus-point try before Sarto did the same to add his second. Russell converted both tries from in front and added two penalties to give Glasgow the perfect start to their European campaign.
Leicester, who received two of the game's three yellow cards, were overwhelmed by their hosts' tempo and relentless pressure on the recently-laid artificial surface at Scotstoun Stadium during the crucial period of the game.
Williams had opened the scoring for the visitors with a penalty before the first major flashpoint in the 14th minute when Matt Toomua tipped Russell over in a tackle which sparked a melee.
The referee took several looks at the replay before showing the yellow card. The fact the Glasgow fly-half initially fell on his shoulder rather than his head saved the Australian centre from a harsher sentence on his Tigers debut.
Stuart Hogg dispensed his own punishment by converting the penalty from just inside his own half.
Glasgow failed to build on their advantage and they were decidedly on the back foot when Ryan Wilson joined Toomua in the sin bin in the 19th minute for not retreating 10 yards when Ben Youngs took a quick penalty close to the Warriors' line.
Leicester punished their hosts, kicking for a lineout and then driving over with Thompstone eventually credited.
But 14-a-side ultimately suited Warriors as their quick ball blew the visitors away. Gaps were opening up in the Tigers defence and Sarto picked the ball up from a tackle and ran through an unmanned ruck area to notch his first of the night.
Russell converted as Toomua re-entered the fray but Glasgow maintained their drive and Brown soon burst through the middle of two Leicester players to touch down.
Sarto, Tim Swinson and Hogg soon had attempts to breach the Leicester lines before scrum-half Pyrgos sneaked round the outside of a ruck to add another try.
Russell missed the conversion and Williams reduced the deficit to 22-13 with a 30-metre penalty before half-time.
Leicester responded well after the interval but Glasgow kept them at arm's length and showed they could grind out some crucial points when Russell bagged a long-range penalty.
The Scotland stand-off then sparked a counter-attack when he took a quick penalty inside his 22. Sarto produced a thrilling crossfield run before the hosts worked it out to Hughes, who was stopped almost on the try line.
Glasgow kept the pressure on and Logovi'i Mulipola received a 57th-minute yellow card moments after coming off the bench.
Warriors could not immediately capitalise and then settled for an extra three points as Russell kicked over.
But they got their bonus point when Bennett, a last-minute replacement for the ill Alex Dunbar, intercepted a pass on his own 22 and sprinted all the way home, before Sarto scored a near identical try seven minutes later to round off the win.
