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Glasgow Warriors face a second tough trip in a row in Pool 1 as they head to Paris to face a Racing 92 side that beat them 34-10 at Stade Yves du Manoir last season. - 08/12/2016 16:09
Glasgow Warriors face a second tough trip in a row in Pool 1 as they head to Paris to face a Racing 92 side that beat them 34-10 at Stade Yves du Manoir last season.
Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend wants to see an improvement on the accuracy of his side following their last gaps home defeat in the PRO12 to Munster Rugby last weekend and knows that a second successive defeat could be terminal for their qualification hopes.
“We know we have to be better than we were against Munster when we face Racing. They’re one of the top teams in Europe, and will pose a different challenge than we’re used to,” said Townsend.
“We need to get our preparation right, as well as transfer over what we’ve been doing in training onto the pitch. The players have trained really well recently, so we just need to make sure we set up the right circumstances to allow them to play with aggression and ambition.”
Racing went on to reach the Champions Cup final last season after beating Glasgow, but forwards coach Laurent Travers is expecting another tough test against what he describes as “almost the whole of the Scottish Team!”
“It's very simple, we cannot afford to be off our game. We know that we will play a near international strength team and, when we you look at the performances of the Scottish XV in November, we know very well that they are a dangerous team,” said Travers.
“If Glasgow want to qualify, they have to make an outcome. And if we want to continue to hope to qualify, a home victory at home is imperative.”
Glasgow Warriors look set to fight-it-out with Munster at the top of Pool 1 after claiming famous 23-14 triumph over Racing 92 in Paris. - 10/12/2016 17:16
Glasgow Warriors look set to fight-it-out with Munster at the top of Pool 1 after claiming famous 23-14 triumph over Racing 92 in Paris.
Gregor Townsend’s men banished the demons of last season, when their quarter-final hopes faded in defeat. But they are in position to qualify this time around thanks to tries from Alex Dunbar and Ali Price secured only their third win on French soil.
Argentina wing Juan Imhoff put the hosts ahead in the opening exchanges before Carter scored late-on, but it was not enough to lift them off the foot of pool one ahead of next week’s return clash at Scotstoun.
The Pool 1 clash began at a frantic pace at Stade Yves-du-Manoir, and it did not take long for last season’s runners-up seven minutes to hit the front. World Rugby Player of the Year Dan Carter sent a long pass to Casey Laulala, who sent Brice Dulin racing away from his own half. The full-back combined with Joe Rococoko, who powered towards the try line. But he was brought down, and the ball was worked back to the blindside, where Imhoff dotted down at the corner for his second try in as many Champions Cup matches.
But Glasgow earned a penalty just inside the Racing 22 metre line moments after the restart, and Finn Russell got his side on the scoreboard. He added another penalty to cut the gap to a single-point, before a spell of heavy Racing pressure.
But Glasgow showed their Warriors spirit to hold-firm, before going down the other end to take control of this crucial fixture through Dunbar. Russell took the ball at first receiver and sent his centre crashing through a hole in the French defence to score, with Russell adding the conversion for a 13-7 lead. Jonny Gray then secured a vital turnover to help his side secure their lead at half-time.
Russell was at the heart of things again as he was brought down just short of the Racing line, but his half-back partner Price spotted a gap and sniped in to score at the base of the posts after 42 minutes. The conversion was duly added by Russell to give Glasgow a 20-7 lead.
Ryan Wilson then got his hands on the ball at a ruck to earn Townsend’s men a crucial penalty deep in Racing territory. And Russell made no mistake to put his side 16 points ahead with just 15 minutes remaining.
Carter then danced through the Warriors defence to score, before converting to bring his side back to within nine points, but it was too little, too late and Glasgow look set to fight-it-out with Munster for top spot.
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