Glasgow Warriors 19 – 31 Gwalia Lightning

Glasgow Warriors fell to a 19-31 defeat against Gwalia Lightning at Scotstoun on Saturday, despite a spirited and fiercely contested match.

Under crisp blue skies, the visitors tested Glasgow’s defence early, earning a scrum deep in Warriors’ territory. Carys Williams-Morris nearly broke through for a score, but a determined effort from Holland Bogan and Poppy Mellanby forced a turnover. Gwalia soon threatened again with a lineout on Glasgow’s five-metre line, but the home pack held firm, holding the ball up over the line.

Gwalia’s persistence paid off when scrum-half Sian Jones darted over from the back of a maul for the opening score. Stand-off Carys Hughes missed the conversion [0-5].

Five minutes later, Gwennan Hopkins powered over from close range, with Hughes adding the extras [0-12].

Warriors responded well, forcing a turnover from the restart to build strong attacking phases. Forwards Poppy Fletcher and Emily Coubrough carried aggressively, while stand-off Ceitidh Ainsworth orchestrated the backline well. As Glasgow edged into the 22, scrum-half Mairi McDonald sniped down the blindside, linking with Mellanby, who was halted just short of the line.

An injury to Bogan saw Aisha Zameer introduced early in the second row. The contest between the two sides remained chaotic but fiercely fought, with neither side able to capitalise on possession.

Glasgow’s defence held firm in the closing stages of the half, repelling two Gwalia attacks. The visitors’ discipline wavered, conceding two quick offside penalties, allowing Briar McNamara to kick for territory. However, a dominant Gwalia scrum ended Glasgow’s attacking momentum.

Ahead of half-time, hooker Aicha Sutcliffe made way for Megan Hyland, who immediately settled into the front row. A solid scrum allowed McDonald to clear into touch, concluding the first half.

Gwalia Lightning went into the break with a lead of 12 points over Glasgow Warriors.

Gwalia struck early in the second half. Opening gaps in the Glasgow defence, Captain Bryonie King broke down the left wing before offloading inside to Molly Anderson-Thomas for the try. Hughes missed the conversion [0-17].

Glasgow responded with intent, as Abi Evans’ magnificent boot and Orla Proctor’s defensive skills combined to pressure Gwalia into touch, earning a Warriors lineout deep in opposition territory. Though they lost possession at the set piece, quick turnover ball allowed Mellanby and Evans to exploit space. A subsequent offside penalty saw McNamara kick to the five-metre line. From the resulting lineout, the forwards carried well before Kate Yeomans crashed over for Glasgow’s first try. McNamara converted [7-17].

Buoyed by their breakthrough and the cheers of the crowd, Glasgow surged forward again. Mellanby was denied by Gwalia’s defence, held up over the line. Fresh legs were introduced, with Ailie Tucker and Millie Warren replacing Katie Lindsay and Emily Norval.

The substitutions injected new energy, and Warriors struck again. The backline manipulated Gwalia’s defence, allowing McNamara to weave through and score down the left wing. The difficult conversion was missed [12-17].

The momentum shifted further when Gwalia’s Alaw Pyrs was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on Tucker at the restart. Glasgow capitalised, earning a five-metre lineout after Gwalia carried the ball into touch. The forwards mauled towards the line before Zameer powered over. McNamara converted, giving Glasgow their first lead of the match with ten minutes to go [19-17].

The visitors responded immediately, with centre Kelsie Webster crossing for a crucial score. Hughes converted to reclaim the lead [19-24].

As the match reached its final moments, Eilidh Flemming replaced Poppy Fletcher. Warriors fought bravely to defend their line but could not prevent Lily Terry from forcing her way over in the dying seconds. Hughes converted, sealing Gwalia’s victory [19-31].

Full-time at Scotstoun Stadium saw Gwalia take the win by a final score of, Glasgow Warriors 19 – 31 Gwalia Lightning.

Glasgow Warrior’s head coach Lindsey Smith shared her post match thoughts:

“A bit disappointed, I don’t think we played our best rugby until it was possibly a bit too late. We left ourselves a bit too much to be done after the first half but, those who came off the bench really made a difference.

Megan Hyland stirred things on when she came on, which was good for the team dynamic. But we need to make sure we are switching on by minute 1 and we are not hesitating around certain areas of the game.

Our contact skills last week were really good and we knew that Gwalia were going to come in and be more physical with us than Edinburgh were, that was something we probably didn’t react well enough to quick enough.

Definitely some positives from the match and you can see the progress from the squad since they started in Round 1, where we would of not made a comeback like today’s and at one point today, we were on the lead.

We now go back into training next week and focusing on keep on developing, we have two more opportunities to show our rugby so we will get ready for it.”