Connacht fail to fire in tetchy tie against fired-up Glasgow rivals

Date Published: 07-May-2012

Glasgow 24

Connacht 3

Rob Murphy in Firhill

A truly remarkable 12 months in the history of Connacht rugby came to an end with a whimper on Saturday as title chasing Glasgow secured a top four place with a fairly comfortable victory over their old foes from the west.

These two sides don’t like each other all that much. There’s no harm in that. Sean Lineen is to Glasgow what Warren Gatland was to Connacht all those years ago, a brash Kiwi who is not afraid to ruffle feathers and who is loved by the local rugby enthusiasts. They gave him an emotional home farewell on his last home game in charge.

It was Lineen who stoked the fires a couple of seasons ago with comments about “hating” playing against the western province adding: "at least the other provinces try and play rugby." Harmless stuff but that was the spark that has led to a bit of bite in the fixture.

We say all that to highlight the niggle that was in this contest and emphasis that while Glasgow clearly had more to battle for and that told in the end, Connacht didn’t just show up in end of season mode. They toiled and probed, but unlike the previous three outings, nothing was going right.

The game was lost after half time with Glasgow leading 11-3 but by no means home and hosed, Four successive line out steals from the monstrous Richie Gray gave the home side – roared on by a big following – all the impetus needed. Duncan Weir tagged on two penalties in the period.

However, the contest was only fully put beyond Connacht’s reach on 68 minutes when Peter Fitzgibbon came up with a yellow card that only he can explain. Connacht had won a penalty, Chris Cusiter – Glasgow’s Lions capped scrum half – held the ball and refused to return it. Paul O’Donoghoe pushed him to the ground in the scuffle and was promptly shown a yellow card for the innocuous incident.

Glasgow had a second try from John Barclay soon after and the game was done. Their first half score from Canadian wing DTH Van De Merwe was the game’s key score, however, as it epitomised the undoubted edge they had in the contest when it came to phase building attacks.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.