Glasgow Warriors and Ulster serve up breathless ending as hosts spurn their big chance

The final ten minutes of the contest saw the hosts hold on with 13 men, while also missing a kick to potentially seal an unlikely victory. It was end-to-end and breathless as a big Warriors defensive effort ultimately denied the visitors more.

Glasgow took an early lead when Bryn Ward went in under the posts, but Glasgow responded with a sleek move off the line-out which went long to Sione Tuipulotu, out the back to Dan Lancaster and then to Josh McKay, who took the gap for the score. The first of what would be three yellow cards in the match for Glasgow came on 18 minutes as Lancaster was sent off for a deliberate knock-on.

Breathless ending at Scotstoun as Glasgow miss chance to win and hold on for draw

Ulster immediately capitalised on the man advantage, working the ball through the phases before Ethan McIlroy charged over. Despite being without their stand-off, that wasn’t a problem for Glasgow as Stafford McDowall threw a beautiful, Finn Russell-esque long pass out wide to Kyle Rowe to score in the corner.

There was a moment of huge frustration to end the half for Warriors, winning a penalty that was overturned when George Horne threw the ball at Tom Stewart. The visitors sent it to the corner and a few phases later it was they who had the score with Jack Murphy’s try giving them the lead at the break.

Franco Smith rung the changes early in the second half, but it was Ulster who extended their lead as a missed tackle by Jamie Dobie was punished, giving the visitors the chance to ship the ball out wide and put winger Cay Mullins in. Soon after that though it was their turn to go a man down as Ben Carson went in high going in high on McDowall.

They were then shown a second yellow two minutes later as McIlroy went off for a deliberate knock-on. Glasgow saw the resulting line-out stolen but another knock-on gave them a scrum and, up against 13 men, Tuipulotu opted for the big miss pass out wide to Dobie to score in the corner.

Still with the two-man advantage, it was prop Sam Talakai who drove over for the bonus point try and the lead after the conversion. Kyle Rowe then has the score of the match as he spotted a gap and cut through three Ulster defenders but Horne’s missed the conversion meant, at 33-26, it was still within a converted score.

Glasgow saw a second yellow card as Darge was sin-binned on 70 minutes then, one minute later, Talakai was also off after another infringement on the line. Unsurprisingly, with the two man advantage, Ulster managed to force their way over with Juarano Augustus the scorer and the successful conversion levelled the score at 33-33.

Glasgow had a huge chance to likely win the match as Bayley Kuenzle won a superb jackal penalty within kicking distance, but Horne’s effort agonisingly came back off the post. The closing phases were end-to-end and all action before the final play of the match saw Rowe and Horne combine for a last-ditch tackle on Zac Ward to put him in touch and end the game.

Your next rugby read: Edinburgh Rugby have made a great start but history tells us not to get carried away