Glasgow smashed through their glass ceiling as they overpowered Leicester to win their first ever Champions Cup knockout tie.
Warriors recovered from a slow start to thoroughly dominate the last 16 contest, with Tigers’ two second-half tries little consolation with the result already in the bag.
The task, though, gets even tougher for Franco Smith’s men next as they head to Dublin to take on a Leinster side who thrashed Harlequins earlier in the day. But Glasgow will at least travel over there with confidence after taming the Tigers in this one-sided contest.
Smith, ever the perfectionist, was not entirely satisfied, believing his players ought to have made their dominance count with more points on the scoreboard.
But he felt the period early in the second half when Warriors landed three tries in quick succession proved to be the defining one.
The head coach said: ‘I’m obviously delighted with the result and some good rugby played but we did leave some points out there. I think we weren’t as clinical as we may have been in the first half against the Lions a couple of weeks ago. So that is what excites me. We can still improve on our current performance.
Adam Hastings’ second-half try put clear daylight between the two sides at Scotstoun
Scotland international Kyle Steyn is too strong and too direct for his Leicester opponent
Sione Vailanu’s first-half try paved the way for a win that will live long in Warriors’ fans’ minds
‘I think we came out and applied some good pressure from the restart. Our set-piece functioned.
‘But we made full use of some of the opportunities which obviously extended the points difference on the scoreboard, which obviously created a bit of pressure onto them.
‘A lot of the hard work was done in the first half, where we kept on staying in the 22 and just breaking it down.’
Leicester had actually started full of intent and landed a score with just two minutes on the clock. Their maul seemed to have been halted by some stout Glasgow defending but the pack splintered allowing Olly Cracknell to stretch for the line.
If that was the gauntlet being thrown down to Warriors then they picked it up and then some, dominating the rest of the game.
Leicester looked to have survived an extended period of pressure as their penalty count mounted. One more transgression, however, proved costly. Jack van Poortvliet knew what he was doing as he stretched out a hand and was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on.
Glasgow didn’t hang around before capitalising. They enjoyed a stroke of luck when Johnny Matthews overthrew the line-out but Adam Hastings was alert to the opportunity as he scooped up a pass to Henco Venter. The South African spotted a gap and powered his way over.
Ben Afshar is stopped in his tracks by a last-ditch Leicester tackle as the English side dig in
Warriors were well on top at this point and soon had their second try. They were getting a lot of joy at scrum time and, when they won one against the head, Sione Vailanu broke free from the back to power his way over, smashing Solomone Kata out of his way en route to the line.
Leicester were wobbling and perhaps fortunate not to have a second player sent to the sin when Emeka Ilione made head contact with Matthews.
The TMO, though, had a look and felt there was no foul play, while Matthews went off for a head injury assessment (HIA) and didn’t return, with Smith explaining the hooker doesn’t favour the new mouthguards with built-in technology.
‘It is difficult because of the gum shields that they wear,’ he added. ‘He does not wear one. So therefore, he does not qualify for the HIA process. The thing makes him feel ill. The mouthguards are a little bit thicker because it’s got a chip in it. So you’ve just got to get used to that. And he struggles. I can understand that.’
Glasgow kept pushing to stretch their lead and only another brilliant last-gasp tackle from Adam Radwan on Jamie Dobie stopped the winger from teeing up Horne.
Leicester’s indiscipline was beginning to annoy Welsh referee Craig Evans and Scotland cap Cam Henderson was shown a yellow card. Hastings called for his tee to add a further three points to the Glasgow tally.
The pressure showed no sign of abating after the turn-around as Warriors claimed their third try of the game to stretch their lead. Again it came from the scrum, Venter breaking free before being stopped and Vailanu taking up the baton to score his second of the game from a matter of yards.
The game was tipping in Glasgow’s favour and two more tries in the space of as many minutes all but confirmed the victory.
Man of the match Henco Venter finished with two tries and a shiny medal for his collection
The first went to Hastings. Kyle Steyn stopped close to the line as he looked to score in the corner but Horne was alert to the opportunity as he zipped a pass inside to Hastings.
The scrum-half got the second himself after being teed up by Kyle Rowe’s powerful burst through the middle.
Leicester looked beaten by this point but did get a second score of their own when Kata powered over after good play by his forwards before Hanro Liebenberg landed the visitors’ third to make it more respectable on the scoreline.
But Glasgow had the final say when man-of-the match Venter powered over for try No 6, much to the astonishment of Michael Cheika, the vanquished Leicester head coach.
‘I’m still scratching my head as to how the score was what it was, to be honest,’ said the Australian. ‘I thought we were much more in the battle from my feeling in the game.’
SCORERS; Glasgow — Tries: Venter 2, Vailanu 2, Hastings, Horne. Cons: Hastings 5. Drop goal: Hastings. Leicester — Tries: Cracknell, Kata, Liebenberg. Cons: Pollard 2.
