Glasgow Warriors 33 Leinster 25
A second half hat-trick of tries by Glasgow's high-scoring wing Tommy Seymour shattered Leinster's hopes of building on their interval lead and in the end the visitors came away without even a bonus point to show for their efforts.
"We were looking good 10 minutes into the second half. But look it's a learning experience for a lot of our younger players," said Leinster's head coach, Leo Cullen, whose side had bagged three tries in the first half.
But then a number of mistakes in the second half allowed Glasgow to profit.
“They have world class players and when we made a few errors they pounced.” admitted Leinster skipper Luke McGrath.
Of the youngsters on show Joey Carbery again impressed at outhalf, albeit the former Ireland under-20 cap did not have the same room to display the skills he showed against Treviso a week earlier.
In a match played at a furious pace on Scotstoun's brand new artificial 4G pitch, it was Warriors who earned a quick reward for adventurous play when they converted turnover ball into a score, attacking first on the right flank before a long pass by centre Sam Johnson put Seymour in for an unconverted try.
Leinster too showed their ambition by turning down a kickable goal in favour of a lineout in the corner that all but produced points before the referee – after consultation with the TMO – ruled that the ball had not been grounded in play.
The visitors, however, soon atoned by snapping up the next opportunity, a break by Jordi Murphy was then recycled ball giving Rob Kearney enough room to step through an attempted tackle for a try in the corner, with Carbery converting from the touchline.
The fast pitch invited an immediate reply and Glasgow duly delivered, spraying the ball to right and left before the forwards hammered at the line eventually producing a try for Tim Swinson, the extras supplied by Henry Pyrgos.
Glasgow were reduced to 14 men after wing Leonardo Sarto was binned but Leinster were initially unable to take advantage before producing a bizarre score when Josh van der Flier spotted space at the breakdown and then took route one to the line, leaving Carbery with the simplest of conversion kicks.
Leinster's 14-12 lead increased further with a score just before the break, this time Carbery was the architect with a sweetly struck low cross-kick that bounced perfectly for Zane Kirchner to gather and race over in the corner to give his side 19-12 interval advantage.
A Carbery penalty two minutes into the second half gave Leinster a cushion of 10 points . The stuffing was quickly removed however as Seymour intercepted a Carbery pass to run in under the posts presenting Pyrgos with a straightforward goal kick.
It was to be part one of double-whammy for Leinster as just three minutes later Seymour latched on to turnover ball, before catching a few defenders in the headlights to complete a hat-trick of tries. Pyrgos’s conversion giving Glasgow a 26-22 lead.
Carbery again kicked a penalty goal to reduce Warriors’ lead to a single point. But it was only temporary respite. Seven minutes from full time Glasgow put the squeeze on at a penalty-opted scrum to produce choice ball and again it was that man Seymour who was the beneficiary, the winger coming from the blindside to take an inside pass before touching down for his fourth try, to which Pyrgos again inflated with the extra points to seal an important five-pointer for the home side.
GLASGOW WARRIORS: S Hogg; L Sarto, A Dunbar, S Johnson, T Seymour; P Horne, H Pyrgos; G Reid (A Allan 68), F Brown (C Flynn 68), S Puafisi( Z Fagerson 48), T Swinson (T Uanivi 76), J Gray, R Harley, S Favaro (L Wynn 68), R Wilson.
Replacements: Z Fagerson for Puafisi (48 mins), A Allan for Reid, C Flynn for Brown, L Wynn for S Favaro (all 68 mins), T Uaniv for T Swinson (76 mins).
LEINSTER : R Kearney (R O'Loghlin 58); Z Kirchner, G Ringrose, N Reid, D Kearney; J Carbery (C Marsh 76), L McGrath (J Gibson-Park 62); C Healy (P Dooley 58), J Tracy (B Byrne 58), M Bent (T Furlong 46), M McCarthy, R Molony (M Kearney 58), D Leavy (D Ryan 70), J van der Flier, J Murphy
Replacements: T Furlong for Bent (46 mins), R O'Loughlin for R Kearney, M Kearney for Molony, B Byrne for Tracy (all 58 mins), P Dooley for Healy (all 58 mins, J Gibson-Park for McGrath (62 mins), D Ryan for Leavy (70 mins), C Marsh for carbery (76 mins).
Referee: J Lacey (Ireland).
