Glasgow end Champions Cup campaign with win over Racing 92
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 23/01/16 9:14pm
Glasgow Warriors marked their one-off venture to Rugby Park with a 22-5 victory over Racing 92 in their final European Champions Cup of the season.
Stuart Hogg ploughed over for the home team's only try in the 55th minute, with points from the boots of Finn Russell and Duncan Weir taking the match away from the French visitors.
The Scotstoun pitch is presently unplayable due to the heavy rain and flooding that has affected much of Scotland in recent weeks, meaning Glasgow had to find a new venue.
Kilmarnock's football stadium fitted the bill, and Glasgow drew a crowd of 9,063 for the occasion.
Glasgow's defeat to Northampton last week meant they could not qualify for the knock-out stage, but they finished their campaign by inflicting a rare defeat on Racing, who advance as Pool Three winners to have home advantage in the quarter-finals.
This was expected by many to be Glasgow's breakthrough season when they would turn potential into actual success but the early return from the 2015/16 campaign is an early exit from Europe and a floundering position in the PRO12.
After lifting the PRO12 crown last May with a squad full of exuberant, young committed players, it has been a much different season to the one head coach Gregor Townsend and his coaching staff had envisioned.
Neither side made any kind of grand statement in the opening half as the heavens opened and continued to dump heavy rain throughout.
The Warriors started the busier, flustering Racing in the opening exchanges enough to earn themselves an early penalty through Russell.
The visiting Top 14 leaders, who were missing the likes of Dan Carter, Juan Imhoff, Dimitri Szarzewski, Mike Phillips and Yannick Nyanga from the side who crushed the Scarlets last weekend, largely failed to make an impression.
The second half started in much the same way as the first, Glasgow working to keep possession with Russell striking with his second penalty before the home side's pressure eventually told and Hogg went over for the opening try.
Leading 13-0 after Russell's conversion, Glasgow struck again through the Scotland fly-half's third penalty before he was replaced by Weir.
Racing hit back through a try from Cedate Gomes Sa but the French side, who won 34-10 when the teams met in Paris two weeks ago, had little else to offer. Brice Dulin dragged his conversion wide.
Weir added two penalties in the final quarter of an hour to extend the winning margin.
