Friday night was a good one for Scottish rugby as Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors each picked up vital bonus-point wins in the PRO14.
Edinburgh 31-21 Scarlets
Edinburgh saw off Scarlets 31-21 in an encounter at BT Murrayfield which saw plenty of twists and turns, having led 17-14 at half-time.
The hosts started firmly on the front foot. Duhan van der Merwe had an early try disallowed due to a lack of a clean grounding, but that did not derail their momentum. In the eighth minute, Viliame Mata crossed for the first try of the match, forcing his way over from close range after a line-out drive.
Scarlets suffered another blow shortly afterwards, with Blade Thomson stretchered off with concussion and replaced by Ed Kennedy. However, that only appeared to galvanise them. In the 15th minute, Morgan Williams caught a long pass from Kieron Fonotia, broke through Henry Pyrgos’ attempted tackle, and scored in the corner.
However, Edinburgh hit back shortly afterwards, with Tom Brown scoring two tries in quick succession – both in the corner after some solid build-up play from the forwards.
The visitors had the last score before the break, with Dan Jones’ grubber following a line-out setting Paul Asquith up to score. Seven minutes after half-time, they were handed a boost when Simon Hickey was yellow-carded for tackling Sam Hidalgo-Clyne in the 10-metre zone following his quick-tap.
Scarlets took full advantage of their extra man straightaway, opting for the scrum and setting Johnny McNicholl up to finish the try.
Nevertheless, Richard Cockerill’s charges rallied back once again, with Pierre Schoeman going over for the bonus-point try in the 57th minute, restoring their lead.
Mata then went over for Edinburgh’s fifth try, sealing the victory and moving them into third place in Conference B.
The scorers:
For Edinburgh:
Tries: Mata 2, Brown 2, Schoeman
Cons: Hickey 2, Socino
Yellow Card: Hickey
For Scarlets:
Tries: Williams, Asquith, McNicholl
Cons: Jones 3
Edinburgh: 15 Dougie Fife, 14 Tom Brown, 13 James Johnstone, 12 Chris Dean, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Simon Hickey, 9 Henry Pyrgos (c), 8 Bill Mata, 7 Ally Miller, 6 Luke Hamilton, 5 Callum Hunter-Hill, 4 Jamie Hodgson, 3 Murray McCallum, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 David Cherry, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Callum Atkinson, 20 Lewis Wynne, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Jason Baggott, 23 Juan Pablo Socino
Scarlets: 15 Johnny McNicholl, 14 Ioan Nicholas, 13 Kieron Fonotia, 12 Paul Asquith, 11 Morgan Williams, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 8 Will Boyde (c), 7 Josh Macleod, 6 Blade Thomson, 5 David Bulbring, 4 Steve Cummins, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Phil Price
Replacements: 16 Dafydd Hughes, 17 Dylan Evans, 18 Simon Gardiner, 19 Tom Price, 20 Ed Kennedy, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Clayton Blommetjies, 23 Uzair Cassiem
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Sam Grove-White (Scotland), David Sutherland (Scotland)
TMO: Neil Patterson (Scotland)
Ospreys 20-29 Glasgow Warriors
A sensational performance from Nikola Matawalu led Glasgow Warriors to a 29-20 victory over the Ospreys in a Conference A top-of-the-table clash at the Liberty Stadium.
The hosts scored the first try of the game in the seventh minute through Olly Cracknell, who powered over from close range after Dan Evans was brought down just short of the line.
However, Matawalu responded shortly afterwards with two tries in quick succession. The first came after Adam Ashe charged down a kick and DTH van der Merwe set the Fijian up with a fantastic offload. The second try, scored in the 15th minute, came after an inside pass from Nick Grigg following the centre’s line-break.
Ospreys heaped pressure on Glasgow in the late stages of the first-half and early on in the second, with the boot of Sam Davies bringing the lead down to four points by the 47th minute.
However, Matawalu dealt their comeback hopes a huge blow just two minutes later, getting on the end of a sensational cross-kick from Brandon Thomson to seal his hat-trick.
Grigg, who was ultimately selected as Man of the Match, finally scored a try as reward for his fine performance in the 59th minute, receiving the final pass from Stafford McDowell after Van der Merwe’s break.
Hanno Dirksen scored a late consolation try for the hosts after the ball bounced kindly for him off a kick into space, but it was too little, too late, as Glasgow claimed a crucial win.
The scorers:
For Ospreys:
Tries: Cracknell, Dirksen
Cons: Davies 2
Pens: Davies 2
For Glasgow Warriors:
Tries: Matawalu 3, Grigg
Cons: Thomson 3
Pen: Thomson
Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 Hanno Dirksen, 13 Cory Allen, 12 Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Tom Habberfield, 8 Rob McCusker, 7 Will Jones, 6 Olly Cracknell (c), 5 James King, 4 Lloyd Ashley, 3 Ma’afu Fia, 2 Scott Otten, 1 Rhodri Jones
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Tom Botha, 19 James Ratti, 20 Guido Volpi, 21 Matthew Aubrey, 22 James Hook, 23 Tom Williams
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Ruaridh Jackson, 14 DTH van der Merwe, 13 Nick Grigg, 12 Stafford McDowall, 11 Rory Hughes, 10 Brandon Thomson, 9 Nick Frisby, 8 Tevita Tameilau, 7 Callum Gibbins (c), 6 Adam Ashe, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Rob Harley, 3 D’Arcy Rae, 2 George Turner, 1 Oli Kebble
Replacements: 16 Grant Stewart, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Adam Nicol, 19 Kiran McDonald, 20 Matt Smith, 21 Bruce Flockhart, 22 Paddy Kelly, 23 Niko Matawalu
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Kieran Barry (Ireland), Craig Evans (Wales)
TMO: Jon Mason (Wales)