Sarries make history

Saracens have reached the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup for the first time in their history thanks to a 21-17 victory against Glasgow at the Firhill Arena.

The result also means that the Guinness Premiership side top Pool Four and therefore gain a potentially crucial home advantage for the knockout stages of the competition.

On a very windy night, it was very much a case of 'job done' for Sarries, who ultimately had too much nous for a Glasgow side also looking to reach the latter stages of the competition for the first time.

The Warriors needed maximum points if they were to have any chance of progressing but they made too many unforced errors on the night, a second-half try from Bernardo Stortoni being their only such effort.

Indeed, two glaring errors from the home side let Sarries in the door - resulting tries in each half from Richard Haughton and Glen Jackson sufficient for a victory which the visitors just about deserved given their superior possession, especially in the second half.

Glasgow thought they had made a dream start after just three minutes when Hefin O'Hare ran onto a sliced Sam Pinder chip. The winger then sprinted through - literally, as it transpired - on the left-hand touchline, with match officials disallowing the subsequent score.

Error

Seconds later, however, O'Hare had no place to hide following an awful error when he failed to back-track adequately and Haughton's chase - seemingly in vain - gained an unlikely reward.

Jackson missed the conversion, but the visitors were nevertheless piling on the pressure, with Neil de Kock almost finding a way through the centre. A penalty eased the Warriors' woe, but only temporarily - a knock on then preventing Brent Russell from touching down.

Clearly troubled by the swirling wind, Jackson missed a penalty but Parks had no such problem when he put Glasgow's first points on the board with a penalty just before the midway point of the opening period.

It was third time lucky for Jackson two minutes later, his second penalty attempt finding its target to put the visitors 8-3 ahead, with the two fly-halves' influence increasing when Parks kicked his second penalty after 25 minutes.

In a generally scrappy and mistake-ridden opening half, both sides in the main relied on counter-attacks - more often than not resulting in turnover ball - but the half-hour did see Sarries piece together a full eight phases of play, albeit without reward.

An excellent Jackson penalty did place the visitors even further ahead two minutes prior to the interval but, following injury-time pressure from the Warriors, another Parks penalty reduced the gap to just two points.

Glasgow were looking to eliminate the gap entirely in the final minute of injury time, but instead their second glaring error of the evening was punished when Pinder's telegraphed pass was intercepted by Jackson, the number 10 also converting.

Aggressive

Nine points behind at the interval, Glasgow made an aggressive start to the second half but after a break fed winger Thom Evans on the right, another error from the home side brought turnover ball for Saracens.

The visitors then proceeded to hold onto the ball - but Saracens could not make their possession pay: Chris Jack being robbed by Fergus Thomson as Saracens attempted to push the big Kiwi over the line.

Another concerted attempt after 52 minutes resulted in Haughton going over in the right-hand corner; however, on this occasion, the winger was adjudged to have been held up by Parks.

Seven more phases resulted in an overlap but, with the line beckoning line for Russell, the full-back instead fumbled the ball. Thus, with 20 minutes gone in the second half, the score remained 19-8 to Sarries.

Having absorbed everything the English side had to offer, the Warriors then made their first attack in what seemed like an age pay with a first try - Parks working the ball to the open side, with neat footwork from Evans then setting up Stortoni in the left-hand corner.

Parks missed the extras and Glasgow's four-point deficit was eked out once more with another Jackson penalty after 68 minutes, the closing moments seeing the Warriors holding the monopoly in possession as they sought a comeback.

A penalty with four minutes to go saw Parks go for the posts - the home side tacitly admitting that three more tries were now out of the question. The win was still on but, despite more late pressure, Glasgow could not make it pay.