Warriors suffer exit from Heineken Cup

Glasgow Warriors failed to reach the last eight of the Heineken Cup after a narrow 23-16 defeat to defending champions Leinster last weekend.

The Warriors enjoyed the best of the early exchanges with Al Kellock and Richie Gray driving their side forward in front of a spirited 6,500-strong crowd.

Poor handling, indecision, and misjudgement left them level at 6-6 at the break after Welsh referee Nigel Owens penalised the home side right before the whistle, allowing Fergus McFadden to convert the penalty to cancel out two earlier Duncan Weir kicks.

Just three minutes after the break, Leinster began their trademark second-half offensive when the bounce of a speculative diagonal chip from Jonathan Sexton deceived two Warriors backs leaving Rob Kearney to run on to the ball and over for an easy try – a move the Warriors boss later described as “world class”.

Weir reduced the deficit with a simple penalty but Leinster continued to ramp up the pressure on the Glasgow backline. McFadden proved unlucky to be stopped just metres from the try line after a lightning break from the Dubliners before he converted another penalty after Owens penalised Ed Kalman for not binding at the scrum.

Fresh off the bench, replacement scrum-half Conor Gregor brought the scores level at 16-16 after a wave of Warriors pressure, only to see Leinster return with interest and force a try through Isaac Boss, who like Gregor, came off the bench to give his side a decisive boost as he went over after Leinster overturned possession from Johnnie Beattie. Heinke van der Merwe set up Boss before McFadden added the extras.

Again the Warriors came back at the visitors, but poor handling from Graeme Morrison and a wrong decision from Hogg to go it alone again left Sean Lineen’s side short of the additional points needed.

Despite going down to 14 men when Sean O’Brien was sin-binned in the final seven minutes for an infringement in the ruck, Leinster defended heroically to safeguard their qualification to the knock-out stages.

Far from being disheartened at defeat, Glasgow head coach Lineen said: “Leinster are not the Heineken Cup champions for nothing. They fight every step of the way, but we stood toe-to-toe with them for long periods of the game.

“It was an outstanding effort from the players in terms of their determination and how we were looking to play. We had our chances, but trying to get quick ball against Leinster is really difficult. They’re the best at slowing you down.

“They have 15 decision-makers on the ball and 15 loose forwards off it when they’re defending. They make it very difficult for you and they’re very good at it, masters of it.”

The Warriors will rue missed opportunities against one of Europe’s best sides, who sealed automatic qualification to the quarter-finals with the win. And while the signs are there that the Glasgow side are a match for most British teams, their inability to convert pressure into points in the final 22 means they’re still some way off competing with Europe’s elite.