Pro12: Glasgow Warriors 36-17 Cardiff Blues

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Peter Horne scores a try for Glasgow Warriors against Cardiff BluesImage source, SNS
Image caption,

Peter Horne ensured a bonus point for Glasgow with their fourth try - his third of the night

Glasgow Warriors (29) 36

Tries: Hall, Horne 3, Ashe Cons: Horne 3, Russell Pen: Horne

Cardiff Blues (3) 17

Tries: Davies, Fish Cons: Anscombe 2 Pen: Anscombe

Peter Horne's try hat-trick guided Glasgow Warriors to a resounding victory over Cardiff Blues to keep the hosts top of the Pro12.

Veteran hooker Dougie Hall and Adam Ashe crossed to augment Horne's personal tally of 24 points.

Cardiff lost Jarrad Hoeata to a first half sin bin, and though they mounted an adventurous late push, they were too error-prone to trouble Glasgow.

Gareth Davies and Dan Fish got Blues' consolation tries.

And Gareth Anscombe kicked seven points for the visitors.

The combined impact of the result at Scotstoun and Ospreys' defeat of Benetton Treviso is that Glasgow lead the Welsh province by four points. Cardiff are 10th.

With Scotland head coach Vern Cotter among the Scotstoun sell-out crowd, Glasgow sought to play at speed and with expansion from the off, and almost opened the scoring via an improbable source, tighthead Mike Cusack barrelling through the Blues defence but spilling the ball in contact.

From the resultant scrum, the 135kg prop won a penalty which Horne slotted over to break the deadlock.

Horne's strike was cancelled out by New Zealander Anscombe, before the centre missed an opportunity to nudge his side back ahead.

As the half went on the Warriors piled on the pressure and were rewarded when Hall, retiring at the end of this season, cut a nice line between Lou Reed and Josh Navidi to go over, with Horne converting from the touchline.

The Fifer scored the pick of the bunch just a minute later. Finn Russell, from his own 22, identified space after an aimless Anscombe punt, and floated a pass out to Tommy Seymour. His pass found Peter Murchie, with Horne on his shoulder to finish.

This time, he could not add the extras, but no sooner had he retreated to his own half than he was under the posts for his second.

Seymour looked to have squandered a huge overlap as the Blues defence crumbled, but Horne ran a brilliant angle to take his offload from the ground, touch down and convert.

With the Blues reeling, and no away wins to their name since the opening round, second-row Hoeata floored Murchie with a stiff-arm off-the-ball challenge, drawing a yellow card from referee George Clancy.

It laid the platform for Horne again to fillet the visitors' midfield, securing his hat-trick and Glasgow's bonus point try on the last play of the half.

The home pressure continued after the break, sweet handling allowing Ashe to gallop in from distance. With Horne retiring and Duncan Weir making his injury comeback in his place, Russell converted.

Davies touched down for the Blues on the hour mark from a smart Lewis Jones tap penalty, and Fish scored a fine second with Anscombe converting both.

But a comeback was never likely as the Warriors' run of consecutive league victories over Cardiff stretched to eight.

Glasgow Warriors: Murchie, Seymour, Vernon, Horne, van der Merwe, Russell, Pyrgos, Yanuyanutawa, Hall, Cusack, Swinson, Kellock, Harley, Fusaro, Ashe.

Replacements: Weir for Horne (46), Jones for van der Merwe (26), A. Price for Pyrgos (68), Reid for Yanuyanutawa (55), MacArthur for Hall (50), Welsh for Cusack (55), Nakarawa for Fusaro (61), Strauss for Ashe (50).

Cardiff Blues: Anscombe, Cuthbert, Isaacs, G. Smith, Fish, G. Davies, Knoyle, Hobbs, Dacey, A. Jones, Hoeata, Reed, Cook, Warburton, Navidi.

Replacements: R. Smith for Fish (76), Humberstone for G. Davies (70), L. Jones for Knoyle (46), T. Davies for Hobbs (31), Rees for Dacey (49), Filise for A. Jones (41), E. Jenkins for Hoeata (63), Turnbull for Reed (41). Sin Bin: Hoeata (40).

Att: 7,240.

Image source, SNS
Image caption,

Hall, who will retire at the end of the season, dived over for the opening try

Image source, SNS
Image caption,

Kellock (top, third from left) was also playing his first game since announcing his impending retirement

Image source, SNS
Image caption,

Horne ran in three tries in succession

Image source, SNS
Image caption,

Ashe added to Glasgow's try count in the second period

Image source, SNS
Image caption,

Hall and Kellock were substituted in the second half and both received warm applause

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