Warriors battle past Ulster to impressive home record

Glasgow Warriors continued their impressive domestic run as they beat a strong Ulster side 17-9 at Firhill.

A try from Troy Nathan, and a Duncan Weir drop goal secured the Warriors their fifth successive RaboDirect PRO12 victory on Friday night at Firhill.

In difficult conditions in Maryhill, the Warriors secured victory in the final ten minutes with a try from Troy Nathan, and a Duncan Weir drop goal, after a kicking exchange between Weir and his opposite number Ian Humphreys had the scores level at 9-9.

Glasgow Warriors head coach, Sean Lineen, was delighted with the win.

“The boys’ determination was outstanding,” he said.

“I’m delighted that Duncan got the drop goal and put them out of range; I’m delighted for Troy scoring a great try and I’m delighted that David Lemi got through his first game in such wintry conditions.

“This is a tough competition and Ulster are very physical, but we faced up to them. Chris Fusaro came on and stole some beauties. He really is a star in the making.

“However, the match was frustrating at times and there were a lot of scrums, but we came through it and have another RaboDirect PRO12 win under our belts.”
Both sides struggled with the conditions in the first half, with referee Stefano Penne penalising both sides for a number of infringements, but Lineen’s side went in at the break 9-3 up after three kicks from Weir inside the opening 30 minutes.

Humphreys levelled the score early in the second half with two easy penalties as Penne continued to penalise the Warriors, as Ulster dominated the first 20 minutes, coming close to going ahead as the hosts struggled in the scrum.

Humphreys then came close on 65 minutes for Ulster, but was short, allowing the Warriors to break away, but as they hit the half-way line were penalised for crossing by the touch judge, and Humphreys missed the posts from the resulting penalty to the relief of the majority of the 3,490 inside Firhill.

The Warriors’ break came from a loose ball in open play, played out to debutant Samoan wing David Lemi who motored down the touchline drawing the last man, before playing in outside-centre Nathan who drove 20 metres before going over for the all-important try, but Weir was wayward with the conversion giving Ulster a chance to sneak a win with a converted try.

Weir redeemed himself to hand the Warriors their fourth successive home win in all competitions with a drop goal after a pass from Henri Pyrgos, taking the Warriors beyond a try and conversion, with just seconds of the game left, to move briefly joint-top of the table ahead of the rest of the weekend’s games.
The Warriors now travel to Rodney Parade looking to do the double over Welsh side Newport Gwent Dragons on Sunday 4 December with the match screened live on BBC ALBA from 4.30pm.