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Adam Hastings bids farewell to Glasgow with starring role in Leinster win
By PA
Adam Hastings bid a victorious farewell to Glasgow as he brought the curtain down on his Scotstoun career with a 15-12 win over Leinster.
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The Scotland stand-off is heading to Gloucester in the summer but he bowed out in style as Danny Wilson’s men edged past the Irishmen.
Leinster looked to be heading towards the win until Hastings’ silky offload put Kyle Steyn in for Warriors’ second try.
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That levelled the points at 12-12 after the Dubliners had countered Matt Fagerson’s opener with touchdowns from Luke McGrath and Cian Kelleher.
Ross Thompson then nailed a late kick to seal victory after a fiery encounter.
Glasgow go top of the Guinness PRO14 Rainbow Cup standings but, having missed out on a bonus point, they are unlikely to reach the inaugural final.
But Hastings at least checks out with a smile on his face.
The 24-year-old has previous with Leinster having been sent off at the RDS earlier this season.
He found himself getting up their noses more than once this time and it was no surprise to see tempers flare between the teams again with an early bout of handbags just eight minutes in.
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It was Warriors who landed the first telling blow of the night 12 minutes in, however.
Sam Johnson was held up an inch shy of the line but the visitors were increasingly having to resort to dubious means to keep out the hosts.
Fagerson, though, eventually found the smallest of gaps to sneak through from close range and open the scoring.
Leinster had spent the opening quarter of an hour on the back foot but, having fallen behind, they exploded into life.
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Bursting at them from all angles, Glasgow did not know where to look and were eventually beaten all ends up by McGrath’s dummy as the scrum-half darted through to score under the posts.
Hugo Keenan was denied a breath-taking score after some patient grunt work from the forwards was spoiled by Ross Molony’s knock-on.
But Glasgow were struggling to stem the tide, with Cole Forbes sin-binned for a cynical off-the-ball tug on Kelleher on 27 minutes.
It took just two more for the Leinster to ruthlessly exploit the space Forbes had vacated, with Kelleher dancing off his wing to score as Thompson, Fraser Brown and Hastings fell at his feet.
The visitors finished the half a man down after Rory O’Loughlin also saw yellow, while Keenan saw a second score chalked off after Andrew Porter illegally blocked off Rob Harley.
And having survived that scare Glasgow brilliantly hit back on 48 minutes as Hastings’ out-the-back-door offload put Steyn in to to level the scores.
Warriors skipper Ryan Wilson was next to take a 10-minute rest after being cautioned for a neck roll on Porter as things got heated again.
But it was Leinster who found themselves on the wrong side of referee Frank Murphy with 15 minutes left as Thompson fired a meaty kick to clinch victory.
