Glasgow thump Ulster to claim top spot in Guinness PRO12
Tuesday 19 May 2015 13:45, UK
Glasgow ran in four second-half tries to claim a 32-10 bonus-point win over Ulster and book a home play-off against the same opposition.
The Warriors trailed 10-6 at half-time but tries from Stuart Hogg, Finn Russell (2) and Richie Vernon clinched top spot in the Guinness PRO12 and means Ulster must visit Scotstoun again next Friday.
Ulster made wholesale changes to the team that drew with Munster last week, with internationals Rory Best, Tommy Bowe, Iain Henderson, Paddy Jackson and Ruan Pienaar all named on the bench.
The visitors kicked off in bright sunshine but Ian Humphreys was deceived by the gusting wind and the ball failed to go 10 metres.
Glasgow took the advantage to camp in the visitors' 22 and went ahead in the fifth minute with a penalty from Russell.
However, it was the last time in the half that Ulster failed to harness the wind at their backs.
With Glasgow put on the back foot they conceded six penalties between the 24th and 29th minutes, the last one seeing lock Jonny Gray dispatched to the sin bin.
The Glasgow defence cracked and Ulster's pack drove over from a line out with captain and flanker Chris Henry awarded the try, converted by Humphreys.
Offended
It then became Ulster's turn to foul fall of referee Ian Davies with four penalties awarded, the final one allowing Russell to claw back three points.
But Glasgow then offended from the restart and Humphreys landed the penalty that stretched the visitors’ lead at the break to four points.
By the restart the wind had fallen away and Glasgow were struggling to create any clear-cut chances until Hogg stepped in with a wonder try in the 55th minute.
A long pass from Russell found the full-back just over half-way and he accelerated to the Ulster 22, chipped perfectly, gathered and scored in the corner.
Not to be out-done, Russell produced his own try from the same category, brushing off several Ulster tackles to score by the posts and then to convert.
Ulster had prop Andrew Warwick sin-binned in the 64th minute and Russell bagged his second six minutes later, sidestepping over after huge Glasgow pressure.
Two minutes later Glasgow had the all-important bonus point when centre Vernon broke a tackle on the Ulster 22 to score, Russell again adding the extras to ensure home advantage next weekend.
