Glasgow Warriors centre Stafford McDowall comes in for some close Bulls attention. Image: © Craig Watson –
www.craigwatson.co.uk 
DAVID BARNES @ Scotstoun Stadium
AN exhausted performance for 74 minutes meant a disappointing defeat to a determined and well-drilled Vodacom Bulls outfit – who will feel they have gained some revenge after last year’s URC Final defeat in Pretoria – but Glasgow Warriors can draw some solace from having pinched a losing bonus-point through two tries at the death, which means they are still in control of their own destiny in the race to finish second in the table (which would mean home quarter and semi-finals if they get that far in the play-offs).
But the remaining fixtures do not favour Franco Smith‘s side. That late flurry leaves them one point ahead of the Bulls with two rounds of the regular season left to play. They have next weekend off, before facing Benetton in Treviso and Leinster at the Aviva Stadium – returning to the scene of that painful 52-0 Champions Cup quarter-final hammering two weeks ago – knowing that any more points dropped will see them fall behind Bulls, who will expect to gather the full 10 points from their remaining matches against Cardiff and Dragons, both at home.
“We all hate losing so that is the feeling we will take out of the dressing room, but if you play 16 finals in a season – everybody who plays Glasgow plays their final – and you try to challenge in a European Cup, then it’s a really, really tough season,” reflected Smith afterwards. “But we’re coming to the back end of that now and I’m proud of the fact that we kept on fighting to the end tonight.
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“The Bulls tackles brilliantly. They made 189 tackles and we made 102 tackles. They’ve scrummed us to pieces, and they’ve scrummed everybody to pieces, and they’re the only team to beat Leinster this season with a scrum in the 81st minutes, and the Bulls player were really determined to revenge what was an important for them last years, so I am obviously disappointed with the loss but it doesn’t effect us at all in terms of what is going to happen next.”
“So, it was a good fight and determination from all of them, but its the back end of along season, and to play the bulls now in the mood they were in, we’ll take the bonus-point and move on.”
Warriors came close to opening the scoring on six minutes when aa sweeping attack gave Seb Cancelliere a sniff on the right, but he couldn’t quite escape the cover defence so sent a speculative overarm pass back inside, which didn’t find a support player but was dribbled ahead and then collected on the bounce by Stafford McDowall who then fed Cancelliere once again. This time the Argentinean winger made it all the way to the line with a weaving run only be turned onto his back and prevented from grounding the ball by an excellent cover tackle from Bulls loose-head Jan-Hendrik Wessels.
Instead, it was Bulls who drew first blod after 16 fairly uninspiring minutes, when Cancelliere was miles offside, and Johan Goosen kicked the three points.
Warriors had their fair share of possession but found themselves running into a brick wall defence, and they fell three-points further behind when McDowall went off his feet just outside his own half, with Goosen stepping up to land a monster kick at goal.
Bulls were reduced to 14 men for 10 minutes when Patrick Schickerling bounced slightly rightward in a tackle into Wilco Louw, who dipped his shoulder slightly ahead of contact with his opposite number’s head. It looked clumsy rather than dirty meaning the yellow-card was probably the right sanction.
Warriors finally got off the mark on 36 minutes, with Tom Jordan making ground on the edge, Alex Samuel thundering through the middle, and fast ball earning a ruck penalty which was sent to the corner. Glasgow tried to batter their way over through the forwards, with not much joy, so McDowall sent a flat miss-pass out to the unmarked Jamie Dobie – fresh off the bench for Kyle Rowe – on the left. It looked slightly forward but a TMO review concluded that Canan Moodie‘s fingertips had brushed the ball as he tried to cut out the pass so the score stood and Gorge Horne fired home the conversion.
Bulls, however, had the final say of the first half with Goosen slotting his third long-range penalty of the evening, this time after a scrum collapse, to edge his team back into the lead.
Warriors had a chance to reclaim the lead early in the second half, but opted to kick a ruck penalty towards the corner rather than the posts, only for Jordan to overcook it and send the ball dead.
Bulls were more clinical when they battled to the other end and found themselves in a near identical situation and also opted for the corner, but this time Goosen set up a five-metre line-out and then rumbled the line-out over for a Johann Grobelaar try.
Goosen converted, then kicked a 55th minute obstruction penalty against Samuel to make it 7-19, and things got a whole lot worse just four minutes later when an aimless diagonal from the out of sorts Jordan gave Sebastian de Klerk a chance to launch a long clearance into a wide open backfield.
Jordan came across to tidy up but was caught out by the chasing de Klerk’s pace, who managed to hack on just as the Warriors man realised he was in trouble, and the Bulls winger then held his nerve to retrieve the ball then send David Kriel over. The dead-eyed Goosen inevitably added the conversion.
A 50-yard breakout from his own 22 by Rory Darge briefly injected some life in Warriors quest to salvage something from this game, but they couldn’t sustain that momentum against a heroic effort to get back and defend their line by the Bulls, and the opportunity floundered on the rocks when a speculative Jordan pass floated harmlessly into touch.
The game certainly opened up during the final 10 minutes, with Harold Vorster making big yards one way for the Bulls and Cancelliere responding in kind for Warriors, before home skipper Kyle Steyn scooted over on the right for a try which set up a grandstand finish.
Horne couldn’t add the extras from the touchline, meaning Warriors needed a converted try to secure a losing bonus point, and they finally clicked into gear, with Ollie Smith stepping back inside and streaked past five flat-footed Bulls tacklers to carry from 22 to 22. Jordan provided the support and the ball was then sent infield for McDowall to rampage home.
Horne’s conversion secured the bonus-point, and there was still time for one more play. It felt like maybe – just maybe – Warriors might somehow snatch a draw. Alas, Steyn and Jordan collided as they both tried to gather the restart and the chance was gone.
Teams –
Glasgow Warriors: O Smith; S Cancelliere (A Hastings. 73), K Steyn, S McDowall, K Rowe (J Dobie 34(; T Jordan, G Horne; N McBeth (J Bhatti 43), G Hiddleston (J Matthews 64), P Schickerling (S Talakai 25-36, 43), M Williamson (S Cummings 60), A Samuel, G Brown (E Ferrie, 24), R Darge, J Mann (S Vailanu 41).
Vodacom Bulls: D Williams; C Moodie, D Kriel, H Vorster, S de Klerk (W le Roux, 63); J Goosen ( S Gans 76), E Papier (K Johannes 60); J Wessels (S Matanzima 69), J Grobbelaar (A van der Merwe 52), W Louw (M Smith 52), C Wiese (J Grobbelaar 69), J van Heerden, J Kirsten (M Smith 31-37), R Nortje, M van Staden (J Else 76).
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Scorers –
Glasgow Warriors: Try; Dobie, Steyn; Con: Horne.
Vodacom Bulls: Tries: Grobelaar, Kriel; Con: Goosen 2; Pens: Goosen 4.
Scoring sequence (Glasgow Warriors first): 0-3; 0-6; 5-6; 7-6; 7-9 (h-t) 7-14; 7-16; 7-19; 7-24; 7-26; 12-26
Yellow card –
Vodacom Bulls: Louw (25 mins)
Attendance: 7,231
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