Peter Horne inspires PRO12 leaders Glasgow to Cardiff victory
Last Updated: 12/04/15 6:48pm
Glasgow Warriors remain on course for a home semi-final in the Guinness PRO12 after a comfortable 36-17 victory over Cardiff Blues at Scotstoun.
Peter Horne's haul of 24 first-half points, which included a hat-trick of tries, helped the league leaders open up a 29-3 interval lead.
Adam Ashe bagged the Warriors’ fifth try on 46 minutes, which meant Cardiff’s late revival arrived far too late.
The Blues were exposed to a calibre of rugby they have not come across in recent weeks. The roll call of excellence started in the Glasgow front row and ran back through the likes of Al Kellock, a menace at the breakdown, Rob Harley, a maestro of the back row, via the astonishing Horne to an excellent back three.
Cardiff were lucky to be only 26 points down at the interval, with Glasgow squandering a number of try-scoring opportunities.
Horne broke the deadlock with a fifth-minute penalty before Gareth Anscombe drew the sides level, but that was as good as it got for the visitors.
Following continuous bombardment of the Blues try-line, Hall found a gap and sneaked home in the corner to put Glasgow back in front, Horne with the conversion.
After that, the Warriors passing reached perfect pitch, Peter Murchie and Tommy Seymour combining to send Horne clean through before the centre added another try minutes later, dashing through a gap on the inside shoulder of Ashe.
Cardiff's dreadful first-half offering was compounded further when Jarrad Hoeata was yellow-carded for a high tackle on Murchie. While the lock was serving time in the sin bin, Horne added his third try to secure Glasgow's bonus point, cutting inside and scrambling home under the posts.
The second half was never going to be much more than a training exercise for the Warriors, and Ashe added Glasgow's fifth try when he cut the Blues defence in two with a powerful run from.
The Blues managed a couple of consolation tries through stand-off Gareth Davies and winger Dan Fish in the final quarter but the result was never in doubt.