Harlequins 24-7 Glasgow Warriors

Glasgow Warriors will have to settle for a place amongst the second seeds in the Investec Champions Cup knockout stages, after Harlequins claimed a 24-7 win in London this evening.

Tom Jordan’s sublime try ultimately proved in vain for the Scotstoun outfit, who will discover their opponents in the last-16 at the close of the pool stage action tomorrow evening.

With both sides testing each other out in the early exchanges, a sold-out Twickenham Stoop had to wait until the 15^th minute for the game’s opening score. It would go the way of the home side, as Chandler Cunningham-South found the smallest of gaps at the base of the ruck to crash over for the opening try. Marcus Smith added the extras, and Harlequins had a 7-0 lead.

Knowing a win was crucial to their own hopes of progressing in the Investec Champions Cup, the hosts quickly went back on the offensive, and were rewarded with their second score of the night just five minutes later. Nick David’s burst up the wing took Harlequins into the Glasgow 22, before James Chisholm found the space when the ball was recycled to muscle his way over the whitewash. Smith’s conversion once again found its mark, and the home fans were making themselves heard.

Smith made it three from three off the tee with a penalty after 25 minutes, only for Glasgow to roar into life in scintillating fashion. Jamie Dobie’s wrong-footing of the Harlequins defence allowed the scrum-half to send Stafford McDowall up the blindside, the skipper’s pass setting Kyle Rowe free in the wide channels. Working the ball back through the hands at full tilt saw the trio combine to send Jordan under the posts, the fly-half converting for good measure to make it a full seven-point haul from one of the scores of the season.

An inspired McDowall was almost the catalyst for a second score in as many minutes as the centre charged into open field, with only Cadan Murley’s interception of Jordan’s pass denying Glasgow the try. At the other end, Ben Waghorn though he had crossed for a first Investec Champions Cup try, only for the officials to chalk off the score for obstruction on Rory Darge.

It would remain a 10-point margin until the interval, as the intensity continued to rise under the Saturday night lights. Sebastian Cancelliere was the first to come close to troubling the scorers, the Argentine winger’s pursuit of a loose ball almost resulting in a score were it not for a knock-on earlier in the phase.

Glasgow were on the front foot at this juncture, with McDowall’s regathering of his own chip ahead almost resulting in a spectacular score. Yet Harlequins were causing problems of their own, the wing duo of David and Murley looking for any opportunity to counter-attack.

An increasingly-stop-start match continued to ebb and flow in the middle of the field; Ben Afshar’s introduction off the bench saw the scrum-half look to inject tempo around the breakdown, whilst Henco Venter marked his return to the matchday 23 with a couple of bruising carries upon his arrival into proceedings.

With 12 minutes remaining, the breakthrough was found by the home side. Turnover ball inside their own territory saw the capital outfit work the ball wide, allowing Alex Dombrandt to sent Murley on course for the line. The winger made no mistake from 60 metres out, Smith converting for a 24-7 lead.

It was a lead that the home side would not relinquish, as they sought an attacking bonus-point to seal their place in the knockout stages. Yet Glasgow refused to go down without a fight, McDowall once again to the fore, this time to hold up Cunningham-South on a final charge for the line.

Defeat to close out the pool stages for Franco Smith’s squad, then, but with a place in the last-16 already assured, the Warriors will come back fighting.