Scotland only released five players back from camp for this match but there were a dozen other internationals sitting in the Scotstoun stand who watched on enthusiastically as Glasgow survived a second-half wobble to claim another previous bonus-point win. Two more youth prospects were handed their debuts – Dylan Cockburn and Matthew Urwin – while there were more first-team minutes gained in the legs of Jack Oliver, Kerr Yule and Macenzzie Duncan.

To round off a productive night, Josh McKay made a scoring return from a recent injury lay-off and there was also the heartening sight of Sione Vailanu making his first appearance of the season after a troubling time with a knee problem. Those not involved in international rugby will now head into a well-earned break, including their satisfied head coach.

“I thought the young bucks, some of the boys that haven’t played that often lately, and the people that came back from the international week did extremely well to combine and look very fluent,” said Smith who also said he would leave any updates on Jack Dempsey’s foot injury to Scotland while the player is in their camp. “So yeah, I was happy with the result. I’m really, really proud of everybody’s contribution.

“Some of the boys will earn a well-deserved break now for two weeks. We will have to work hard to make sure that we get everybody back in form as soon as possible, but the results help as motivation. I think we’re all inside there realise that nothing’s won. It just proves that we have the right people in the building to get it done. That will be our drive and our motivation to get everybody back as soon as we can to get everybody in the building.”

It was frenetic fare from the start. Munster thought they had moved into an early lead through Brian Gleeson only for the No. 8 to be pinged for a double movement.That was a let-off for Glasgow and they made the most of it by scoring two quick tries. The first was claimed by Ollie Smith who did well to get the ball down in the corner under pressure from opposite wing, Diarmuid Kilgallen.

The second, barely a minute later, was gifted to Warriors when Munster telegraphed an attack from their lineout and Dan Lancaster nipped in to intercept and score. “You can see the prep that is done there,” added Smith. “That was brilliant from his side. He brought a lot of energy, not just in his own play, but also to the team. I think he’s taken a very important step forward this weekend.”

Glasgow, then, returned the favour, Stafford McDowall throwing a slack pass that was picked off by Ethan Coughlan to get Munster back in the game. The wind, though, was in Glasgow’s favour in the first half and they made the most of it with two more tries – either side of Thaakir Abrahams picking up a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on – to secure the bonus point.

Jare Oguntibeju embellished an impressive individual display by rounding off an extended phase of pick-and-goes by diving over for Glasgow’s third, before McKay marked his comeback by taking a pass from Lancaster for the fourth.Warriors continued to press after the turn-around but after Angus Fraser was held up and a Seb Stephen try was ruled out for a Ben Afshar knock-on Munster took fresh heart.

The scoreline lead looked insurmountable but the Irish side chipped away at it and landed three tries to sew some doubt in Glasgow minds. Dan Kelly claimed the first with a lung-bursting run from deep, before Gleeson profited from a loose Glasgow line-out to score. With the travelling fans starting to find their voice, Munster claimed a bonus point when a well-crafted move concluded with Abrahams teeing up Kilgallen to cross in the corner. Other teams might have collapsed at that point but Glasgow regain their composure and a rare penalty off the tee from Lancaster steered them to victory.

 

Teams –

Glasgow Warriors: J McKay, K Rowe, S McDowall, K Yule (M Urwin 76), O Smith, D Lancaster, B Afshar (J Oliver 76); J Bhatti (N McBeth 48), S Stephen (G Stewart 76), M Walker (S Talakai 37), A Craig (D Cockburn 76) J Oguntibeju (M Duncan 64), E Ferrie, A Fraser (S Vailanu 48), A Miller

Munster: M Haley, T Abrahams, S Daly, D Kelly, D Kilgallen (S O’Brien 75), T Butler (T Wood 50), E Coughlan (P Patterson 50); M Donnelly (J Ryan 69), D Barron (L Barron 54), O Jager (M Ala’alatoa 16), E O’Connell, F Wycherley (G Coombes 51 (F Wycherley 55)), S Edogbo, R Quinn (J O’Donoghue 50) B Gleeson

Referee: Craig Evans (WRU)

Scorers –

Glasgow: Tries: Smith, Lancaster, Oguntibeju, McKay; Cons: Lancaster 4; Pen: Lancaster

Munster: Tries: Coughlan, Kelly, Gleeson, Kilgallen; Con: Wood

Scoring sequence (Glasgow first): 5-0, 7-0, 12-0, 14-0, 14-5, 19-5, 21-5, 26-5, 28-5, (h-t), 28-10, 28-15, 28-20, 28-22, 31-22

Yellow cards:

 Thaakir Abrahams (Munster – 38 mins)

 Jack O’Donoghue (Munster – 80 mins)