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Glasgow Warriors escape with narrow but crucial win over Scarlets

By PA
Tom Jordan with ball in hand for the Warriors. Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images

On a wet and windy night at Scotstoun, Glasgow Warriors did what they had to do in order to book a home draw in the URC play-off quarter-finals with one game of the regular season to spare, beating Scarlets 12-9.

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It will not go down as a classic but will be a valuable confidence boost ahead of these two teams meeting again in Llanelli in the last four of the EPCR Challenge Cup in two weekends’ time.

Scarlets dominated the opening five minutes and took the lead through a Dan Jones penalty after 24 phases of relentless pressure.

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The visitors doubled their tally when Sam Johnson was guilty of a high tackle on Kieran Hardy, and Jones once again kicked the points.

The weather seemed to be disrupting the home team more than their Welsh opponents, although both sides were struggling to play through multiple phases.

Eventually, in the final 10 minutes of the first half, Warriors began to find their feet, with some smart kicking from Ali Price, Tom Jordan and Stafford McDowall putting Scarlets under pressure.

The hosts came close to opening their account when veteran flanker Ryan Wilson – who announced this week that he is leaving the club after 13 years at the end of this season – was held up over the line.

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Then, with just four minutes left in the half, Warriors finally got off the mark when Sione Vailanu carried three tacklers with him as he charged over the line.

Jordan did not manage the tricky conversion from wide on the left, meaning Scarlets took a single-point lead into the break.

Scarlets struck first in the second half, with a scrum penalty handing Jones three more points.

That seemed to be the spark Warriors needed and they finally found their groove.

Some powerful forward play created a sustained buzz in the Scotstoun stands for the first time in the match, and the hosts grabbed the lead with 54 minutes played when Fraser Brown finished off a line-out maul.

Jordan fired home the conversion, and Warriors kept their foot on the gas – but they could not find a way to extend their lead.

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Scarlets nearly delivered a knock-out punch when second-row Vaea Fifita stole possession from the base of a Warriors ruck just inside his own 22 and galloped the length of the pitch to touch down in the corner.

It was an excellent piece of opportunism and athleticism, but referee Andrew Brace referred it to the TMO, who ruled that the Tongan had swooped for the ball from an offside position. Warriors breathed a massive sigh of relief.

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Tom 1 hour ago
England player ratings vs South Africa | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

That 2019 performance was literally the peak in attacking rugby under Eddie. If you thought that was underwhelming, the rest of it was garbage.


I totally get what you're saying and England don't need or have any God given right to the best coaches in the world... But I actually think the coaches we do have are quite poor and for the richest union in the world, that's not good enough. 


England are competitive for sure but with the talent pool up here and the funds available, we should be in the top 3. At the very least we should be winning six nations titles on a semi-regular basis. If Ireland can, England definitely should.


England's attack coach (Richard Wigglesworth) is Borthwick's mate from his playing days at Saracens, who he brought to Leicester with him when he became coach. Wigglesworth was a 9 who had no running or passing game, but was the best box kicker in the business. He has no credentials to be an attack coach and I've seen nothing to prove otherwise. Aside from Marcus Smith’s individual brilliance, our collective attack has looked very uninspiring.

 

England's defence coach (Joe El-Abd) is Borthwick's housemate from uni, who has never been employed as a defence coach before. He's doing the job part time while he's still the head coach of a team in the second division of French rugby who have an awful defensive record. England's defence has gone from being brutally efficient under Felix Jones to as leaky as a colander almost overnight.


If Borthwick brings in a new attack and defence coach then I'll absolutely get behind him but his current coaches seem to be the product of nepotism. He's brought in people he's comfortable with because he lacks confidence as an international head coach and they aren't good enough for international rugby.


England are competitive because they do some things really well, mostly they front up physically, make a lot of big hits, have a solid kicking game, a good lineout, good maul, Marcus Smith and some solid forwards. A lot of what we do well I would ascribe to Borthwick personally. I don't think he's a bad coach, I think he lacks imagination and is overly risk averse. He needs coaches who will bring a point of difference.


I guess my point is, yes England are competitive, but we’re not aiming for competitive and I honestly don't believe this coaching setup has what it takes to make us any better than competitive.


On the plus side it looks like we have an amazing crop of young players coming through. Some of them who won the u20 world cup played for England A against Australia A on the weekend and looked incredible... Check out the highlights on youtube.

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