The new Champions Cup season needed an energetic lift-off and Glasgow delivered splendidly on the opening night at the expense of a lacklustre Leicester. Never have the Tigers felt the cold draught of northern exposure quite so keenly, conceding the most points in their 20-year European history to leave themselves in danger of an early exit from a hugely competitive Pool One.
On the chilliest night of autumn to date the Warriors were excellent value for their bonus-point victory, driven forward by Josh Strauss and enthusiastically served on the right wing by Leonardo Sarto. Leicester, who sacked their defence coach last week and expressed pre-match misgivings about playing on artificial surfaces, had only themselves to blame and will need to improve substantially to trouble the French champions Racing Metro next weekend. “It wasn’t good enough tonight and that’s my responsibility,” confirmed Richard Cockerill, the Tigers’ director of rugby. “We’re not hiding away from how poor that was. We were outplayed.”
It was the most inauspicious of starts to his Leicester career for the Australian centre Matt Toomua, who might have been sent off for a shocking tip-tackle on the Scotland fly-half Finn Russell in the opening quarter. Cockerill’s side were horribly porous in the first half and were soundly beaten long before Mark Bennett and Sarto were gifted the softest of interception tries in the final quarter.
Toomua will certainly not forget his Tigers debut. The game was only 12 minutes old when the Wallaby blatantly up-ended Russell and sparked an altercation involving all 30 players. With the sold-out crowd baying for a red card the 26-year-old was slightly fortunate to see only yellow, having lifted the fly-half’s legs in the tackle and made no apparent attempt to bring him to ground safely. Only the fact Russell landed on his back rather than his head saved Toomua from an ignominious early bath.
It just goes to show how first-night nerves can scramble the most seasoned of brains. Toomua has regularly added a touch of class to an average Wallaby side and is precisely the type of intelligent, playmaking presence at 12 his club have been missing.
A windy Friday night beside the River Clyde, however, is not the most stress-free environment for any debutant, particularly for a new arrival who has not played since being concussed against the All Blacks in Sydney in August.
A little extra niggle was duly generated, with Glasgow’s forwards visibly roused and determined to send Leicester back to the east midlands to think again. Even before kick-off there were those connected with the Tigers who felt it had been ill-advised of Cockerill to air his preference for grass over artificial turf on the eve of the game. He was simply being honest but the risk of putting doubt into his players’ minds and bolstering home morale was obvious.
Glasgow, who had persistent problems with their traditional surface last season, would have been quietly delighted.
It did not seem to matter much initially, with Leicester’s Brendan O’Connor scoring from a lineout drive shortly after Ryan Wilson had been sent to the sin-bin. Being reduced to 14 men, though, did not bother the Warriors who promptly scored two tries in five minutes in Wilson’s absence. First the winger Sarto found an improbable hole around the fringes before another surging sequence of attacking phases caused further defensive panic and allowed the hooker Fraser Brown to scramble over.
By the time the scrum-half and captain Henry Pyrgos smartly nipped over for a third Glasgow try in the 32nd minute the atmosphere was momentarily akin to Parkhead or Ibrox, not a comparison made too frequently in Glasgow’s European history. Owen Williams did claw three points back with his second penalty but, at 22-13 down, Tigers were in need of some serious second-half inspiration.
Even with the wind at their backs and a slightly unpredictable French referee in charge, it never looked like materialising. One statistic suggested Leicester carried the ball 23 times for 27 metres in the first half, an equation that told its own blunt-edged story, and they were even more toothless after the break. Their defensive work around the breakdown remains a major issue and they are conceding way too many points, particularly away from home.
The alert Russell and fleet-footed Stuart Hogg duly made them pay, with Bennett and Sarto gleefully picking off ill-advised passes to ensure a cosmopolitan scoresheet with a Kiwi, an Italian, a Scotsman and a Welshman all registering points. Leicester have seldom been made to look so average and, without Manu Tuilagi, Mike Williams and JP Pietersen, are staring down the barrel of a long, cold European campaign. “We’ve got a lot of work to do before we play Racing,” acknowledged Cockerill. “We’re not dead in the water but we’ve got to have a huge improvement against a quality side next week.”
Glasgow: Hogg; Sarto, Bennett, Johnson (Grigg, 34), Hughes (S Lamont, 64); Russell, Pyrgos (capt; Price, 69); Reid (Allan, 65), Brown (Macarthur, 69) Z Fagerson (Puafisi, 62) Swinson, J Gray (capt; M Fagerson, 77), Harley, Wilson (Wynne, 72), Strauss.
Sin-bin: Wilson 18.
Tries: Sarto 2, Brown, Pyrgos, Bennett. Cons: Russell 4. Pens: Hogg, Russell 2.
Leicester: Veainu; Thompstone, Tait, Toomua (Burns, 69), Brady (Betham, 48); Williams, B Youngs (Harrison, 70); Genge (Mulipola, 55), T Youngs (capt; Thacker, 44), Cole (Bateman, 50), Barrow (Slater, 64) Kitchener, Fitzgerald, O’Connor (Evans, 70), McCaffrey.
Sin-bin: Toomua 12, Mulipola 58.
Try: O’Connor. Con: Williams. Pens: Williams 2.
Referee: M Raynal (France). Att: 7,351
