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December 09, 2007

Glasgow Warriors 9 - 6 Biarritz

Heineken Cup match played at Firhill on Sunday December 9th 2007 | 23 comments

Bernardo had another impressive game at full-back
Glasgow Warriors claimed their second Heineken Cup win of the campaign by taking the notable scalp of Biarritz.

The home side took advantage of an error-strewn first half from the French visitors, with Dan Parks successful with three penalty kicks.

Julian Dupuy responded with a penalty in either half as Biarritz turned up the heat after the break.

However, Sean Lineen's side held on in the face of some fierce late pressure to pick up a valuable four points.

Glasgow leapfrog Biarritz into second spot in Pool 4, with Saracens leading the way.

Warriors began strongly but were under the cosh for the frantic final 15 minutes.

But they survived with a sterling display of marking and tackling, with the back-row immense.

A penalty for offside in the seventh minute gave Parks the chance to break the deadlock, which he took with confidence.

There was then a dose of frustration for the Scotland fly-half as he watched his well-struck drop-goal bid crash back from the near upright.

Almost immediately, however, he clipped over penalty number two.

It took 25 minutes for the Basques to surge into enemy territory and they capitalised with a 40-metre penalty from scrum-half Dupuy.

Parks completed his penalty treble and there was a further bonus for the home brigade when Dupuy's next attempt dipped under the crossbar.

Suddenly, the French stars clicked into gear and began to string together penetrative sequences.

Dupuy was off-target with an ambitious long-range penalty, giving the Warriors an opportunity to regroup.

They worked their way back into the 22 with a well-controlled pack drive, only for the momentum to be lost through a knock-on.

Biarritz grabbed back the initiative as the contest opened up and substitute home scrum-half Chris O'Young foiled them by haring back to get the first touch to a teasing grubber kick by Julien Peyrelongue.

The action was frantic going into the final stages, with Parks going agonisingly close to snapping up an interception with Hefin O'Hare free on his shoulder.

Then came a moment of high controversy as Lome Fa'atau was adjudged to have felled Damien Traille with a late challenge.

That left the stage clear for Dupuy to narrow the gap with his simple penalty.

The visitors sensed redemption and upped the ante, driving the ball up via their forwards once again. But the Scots followed suit, shaping body and mind into a wall of defence.

It seemed that Biarritz would steal an undeserved win as the clock ticked agonisingly down, but the gods of rugby smiled on Glasgow's defensive heroics. Both Dupuy and Traille fumbled easy balls in dangerous positions and the Warriors had the win they craved, surely the biggest of their short history.

With three games played in the Heineken Cup, the unheralded Scots sit on the shoulders of the French giant. Remarkable.

Referee Tim Hayes (Wales)
Attendance 2194
Man of the Match Despite the fumbling, Damien Traille and Nicolas Brusque showed their class in attack - if only they had better support. Dan Parks produced another highly astute performance for Glasgow Warriors, proving once and for all that he is now finally free of the self-doubt that stymied his early career. John Barclay and Kelly Brown got through a heap of work on the flanks, but the real star of show was the unrelenting omnipresence that goes by the name of Johnnie Beattie - the boy became a man today. (As quoted on Planet Rugby)
Team
1
Justin Va'a
2
Fergus Thomson
3
Moray Low
4
Andy Newman
5
Dan Turner
6
Kelly Brown
7
John Barclay
8
John Beattie
9
Sam Pinder
10
Dan Parks
11
Hefin O'Hare
12
Daryl Gibson
13
Andrew Henderson
14
Lome Fa'atau
15
Bernardo Stortoni
Sub
Eric Milligan
Sub
Ed Kalman
Sub
Opeta Palepoi
Sub
James Eddie
Sub
Chris O'Young
Sub
Scott Barrow
Sub
Graeme Morrison
Match Substitutions
Off On
Sam Pinder Chris O'Young
Off On
Fergus Thomson Eric Milligan
Off On
Moray Low Ed Kalman
Off On
Andy Newman James Eddie
Off On
Daryl Gibson Scott Barrow
Scorers
Dan Parks Penalty
Dan Parks Penalty
Dan Parks Penalty
Audio
Press play to listen to John Beattie interviewing Sean Lineen after the game on BBC Radio Scotland or open the player in a new window (requires Adobe Flash.)
Comments
Posted by bossco85 on December 9, 2007 05:13 PM | Reply to this comment

A very gutsy performance. Thought the back row was awesome as was the defence in general. Biazrittz is a big scalp! hopfuly we can get somthing from over there. Fa'atau looked alot sharper aswell, made a few good runs - signs of progress! Well done to the boys, we should call the stadium Fortress Firhill? has a ring to it i think!

Posted by hugues on December 9, 2007 05:43 PM | Reply to this comment

Have heard some comments on the French tv sport programe, "Glasgow very happy with the win because of a crisis in Scottish rugby" and bla, bla...

Glasgow Warriors won the game!
All the best for the future.

Actually i begin to be fed up with the comments from French tv about the HC games.
We begin to be very arrogant/chauvinists and "we loose the games because of the rain".

Like English, we think WE ARE and Celtics sides are here for a folklorique coupe d'Europe.

COME ON GLASGOW!!!

Posted by Gordon on December 9, 2007 07:57 PM | Reply to this comment

Outstanding defence and plenty of guts and determination. The crowd played their part too, but this team deserves the support of more people coming through the gates.

Posted by Scotch22 on December 9, 2007 08:44 PM | Reply to this comment

Congratulations to all the boys, a fantastic defensive display. The fans really appreciated the team coming over at the end of the match. All the best for next Friday.

Posted by sunday5 on December 9, 2007 11:05 PM | Reply to this comment

LOME FA'ATAU! Where have you been? That's more like it.

I must say tho, I always thought Barcley was good but he was just outstanding today. Hadden MUST be thinking of playing our 6,7 and 8 combo for the 6N now.

Well done lads, you did us proud!!

Posted by Garyipa on December 11, 2007 04:26 PM | Reply to this comment

ain't going to happen

Posted by sunday5 on December 11, 2007 07:07 PM | Reply to this comment

I really wouldn't be so sure there Gaza, they were all over Biarritz and we all know the quality of their loose forwards. I wouldn't be too shocked to see them together at some point depending on White's fitness. The likes of Barclay coming off the bench to replace him could do some real damage...

Posted by Garyipa on December 11, 2007 11:06 PM | Reply to this comment

I'd watch for Rennie coming up on the rails.

Posted by Alistair on December 10, 2007 08:35 AM | Reply to this comment

Crowd of 2194? You're having a giraffe.

Posted by ballinj on December 10, 2007 09:27 AM | Reply to this comment

Couldn't agree more, arrived a couple minutes late and had problems finding a seat. Far busier than the Ulster game yet stats say not the case

Posted by sunday5 on December 10, 2007 09:54 AM | Reply to this comment

Not too sure about that actually. I was stuck in St Andrews watching it on tv and there were several rows on either side of the stand that were empty. I seem to remember someone saying the stand holds 2700, so 2200 sounds about right. The crowd sounded great on tv tho, at the end you could see the guys getting gee'd up by the shouts of the fans. Great stuff, just gutted I wasn't there!

Posted by Scott on December 10, 2007 09:58 AM | Reply to this comment

Again the crowd stats seem way low - maybe they're not counting season ticket holders? It feels like a slap in the face when you do your best to make it to the game and then they say there were only half a dozen there! The fans feel like they've achieved something when a big crowd arrives, and the Jackie Husband stand was much more than half full surely.....? Even at half full there would have been 3000.

Well done to the team - superb match - take it on the road!!

Posted by Scott on December 10, 2007 10:02 AM | Reply to this comment

Sunday5, the JH stand holds 6263! By you're viewpoint from TV that would mean the crowd looked more like 5000!!

And that sounds realistic....

Posted by sunday5 on December 10, 2007 10:51 AM | Reply to this comment

6263? Bloody hell, not sure where I got 2700 from then. Yeah, there MUST have been more than 2200 in that case, end of story.

Posted by disco on December 11, 2007 01:23 PM | Reply to this comment

OK let's get this resolved once and for all - volunteers to do a head count at the Dragons game anyone?!

Posted by onion boy on December 11, 2007 04:45 PM | Reply to this comment

Why don't you volunteer yourself disco?

Posted by Hugh on December 10, 2007 09:06 PM | Reply to this comment

First time to a Glasgow Warriors game was on Sunday........will be back!

Posted by sunday5 on December 12, 2007 03:21 PM | Reply to this comment

Great to see new folk like yourself coming along, bring all your mates next time tho!!

Posted by jagswarrior on December 12, 2007 10:02 AM | Reply to this comment

there must be thousands of rugby supporting folk in glasgow and traditional rugby places like ayrshire. They sit in front of the fire watching gardening programmes on a friday night instead of supporting the best team in scotland then goin for a few pints down byres rd with their pals.
then they emerge for the 6n, pay 4 times as much and see scotland full of edinburgh players lose to italy.
there should be a massive marketing campaign round businesses and all rugby clubs,incentives for season ticket holders to introduce new fans and an appreciation of firhill.
when you have a good product all you need to do is sell it properly.

Posted by sunday5 on December 12, 2007 10:46 AM | Reply to this comment

Couldn't agree more Jag, there's never been any advertising and to be honest I would never have known where Firhill was unless I followed the Warriors there. If it wasn't for this site nobody would even know when the games were! I'd bet there's no budget for it tho, it's great to see more Jags and football fans coming tho, couldn't they give discounts to folk who brandish Thistle tickets at the gates? There's bound to be a few curious Thistle fans out there.

Posted by jagswarrior on December 12, 2007 01:11 PM | Reply to this comment

Strangely, I hadn't thought of educating fellow jags fans apart from my fellow middle class friends. Perhaps if we (rugby team)were re-named Glasgow Thistles, this would inspire them to be more multi-dimensional. They are a different breed though.
Would be nice to see some Warriors fans reciprocating , Jags also have a good product under McCall.

Posted by onion boy on December 12, 2007 02:42 PM | Reply to this comment

Great idea. Then we could change the jerseys to West of Scotland, Partick Thistle style colours, have a cross code breakthrough with the Jags defenders playing for the rugby team one week, Warriors players playing for Partick Thistle the next. John Lambie can be the director of rugby. What do you and your "middle class" chums think about that idea?

Posted by jagswarrior on December 12, 2007 03:04 PM | Reply to this comment

jolly good show!

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