Glasgow Warriors maintained their 100 per cent record in the GUINNESS PRO12 with a convincing 39-21 bonus point win against Connacht. Their five try-haul saw Stuart Hogg cross the whitewash twice, and Henry Pyrgos, DTH van der Merwe, and Mark Bennett crossed over to bring Connacht’s unbeaten run to an end. Both sides lined up having had three wins out of three in the PRO12 with Connacht beating last season’s champions Leinster 10-9 the week before. With history against the Irish outfit – Connacht have only won once in Glasgow since 2003 – head coach Pat Lam opted for five changes to his starting squad. Glasgow, who welcomed back captain Al Kellock for the first time this season looked determined to break Connacht’s recent run of form. After 18 minutes of stalemate Hogg opened the scoring. The winger outpaced the Connacht defence after the home side shipped the ball wide from the scrum. And despite the blustery conditions Duncan Weir made no mistake with the conversion to put Glasgow 7-0 ahead. But the Irishmen came back when Dave McSharry dotted down in the left corner and Ian Porter’s conversion made it all square at the Scotstoun. Glasgow pulled ahead on the half hour mark when Weir slotted home a penalty to make it 10-7. Seven minutes later Glasgow banked their second try of the night when Pyrgos charged down a Darragh Leader kick inside the 22, collecting and crossing over, before Weir added the conversion to make it 17-7 at the break. Connacht’s fortune worsened seven minutes into the restart when Hogg collected out wide and ran under the posts for his second. Weir narrowly missed the conversion. Kellock, in his first PRO12 outing this season since undergoing shoulder surgery was substituted for Tom Ryder, and Connacht removed try scorer McSharry for Craig Robinson. Connacht upped the pressure and were rewarded when Jack Carty swung the ball out wide to Leader who dived across for the try in the corner. Porter sailed the conversion through the uprights to make it two from two and 22-14 to the hosts. After the restart Glasgow sealed their fourth try bonus point. Glasgow took a quick tap and go penalty on the Connacht 22 and Pyrgos’ inside pass set van der Merwe under the posts. Weir’s conversion bumped the scoreline to 29-14. But Connacht remained within touching distance going into the final quarter after referee Claudio Blessano awarded a penalty try and Porter slotted home the conversion. However a Weir penalty on 71 minutes inched Glasgow ahead, and shortly afterwards outside centre Bennett finished off the game with the home side’s fifth try of the day after intercepting the ball on his own 22 and dashed 80 metres home. Weir’s conversion made it 39-21 where the scoreline remained unchanged. Follow us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, sign up to ourYouTube channel for extensive match highlights and sign up for our newsletterfor regular updates on the GUINNESS PRO12
