Pro14: Cardiff Blues 34-38 Glasgow Warriors

Aled Summerhill scored a hat-trick for Cardiff Blues

Glasgow Warriors strengthened their grip on second spot in Pro14 Conference A with a thrilling 38-34 bonus-point win away to Cardiff Blues.

Nick Grigg, Ali Price, Peter Horne, Nick Frisby and Tevita Tameilau all crossed in a breathless affair, with Horne kicking 13 points.

But Aled Summerhill's hat-trick, plus scores from Owen Lane and Garyn Smith earned Cardiff Blues two points.

Jarrod Evans added nine points as the Warriors were pushed all the way.

Evans, one of three players released from the Wales squad, produced a scorching third-minute break before Harri Millard's chip allowed Summerhill to touch down with Evans converting.

But Horne quickly pulled back a penalty, before Warriors centres Grigg and Stafford McDowall enjoyed a stunning purple patch.

Wing Kyle Steyn could not gather cleanly to finish their first chance, but Grigg ran in their first try when Evans' cross-kick went astray and the centres then combined to put scrum-half Price over, Horne's goals making it 17-7 in the first quarter.

Horne then crossed himself and converted on the half-hour when the Scots turned over home possession, but Cardiff Blues kept the blistering pace of the game going as Matthew Morgan created space for Summerhill's second and Evans kicked the conversion to make it 14-24 at the break.

Owen Lane has scored five tries in his past four games

The turn in momentum continued after the interval when Lane sped in on the overlap for a corner try, before Evans landed a simple penalty to cut the deficit to two points after 51 minutes.

Glasgow finally regained their dominance with sub scrum-half Frisby crossing from close range after 69 minutes and Tameilau galloping in from George Turner's charge straight from the kick-off, Horne extending the lead to 16 points with two more conversions.

But a grandstand finish saw Summerhill grab his hat-trick try from a grubber kick through, and Smith touched down from an Evans cross-kick for the fly-half to convert.

Glasgow had enough composure left to play out the final two minutes, but their fourth win of the season over Cardiff Blues was by the far the hardest-fought with the try-count finishing at five apiece.

Glasgow prop Zander Ferguson lasted a solid 50 minutes on his return from a five-month absence, while hooker Turner played 71 minutes in his comeback.

Cardiff Blues' Wales forward Josh Turnbull was withdrawn after 38 minutes as a precaution, with a tight hamstring.

Glasgow next host Connacht on Friday, 22 February while Cardiff Blues are in Edinburgh the following day.

Blues boss John Mulvihill on fly-half Jarrod Evans: "Warren Gatland has got three really good 10 in Gareth Anscombe, Rhys Patchell and Dan Biggar, and Jarrod's the next guy in waiting

"He was outstanding off the back of a really heavy week training with us and Wales, he came in pretty tired, but he loves it.

"He's a really good attacking and defensive player player, his kicking is improving all the time and he's becoming the complete package."

Glasgow centre Nick Grigg said: "It was an insane game, after a couple of weeks off the body wasn't ready for that sort of pace. We knew Cardiff like to play with the same width as us and I was blowing after 20 minutes.

"It was a mix of emotions throughout the game, when you're two or three tries up you think there's a bit of leeway but you never know with Cardiff.

"It's a competitive environment within the Scotland camp, there's a lot of centres competing for that position (with Huw Jones injured) so all you can do is put your best foot forward and hope you get a shot."

Cardiff Blues wing Aled Summerhill told BBC Sport Wales he was "really disappointed" with the result.

"I'd rather take the win than have a hat-trick, though I've never had one before for the Blues. The first half was really quick, the last ten minutes was even quicker and though we stuck in there, we just weren't good enough.

"They were too clinical in the first half, our second half was better but we need to start games as we're finishing them.

"No one gave up, and it was really good to get the two points because that could be crucial at the end of the season."

Cardiff Blues: Morgan; Lane, Millard, Lee-Lo, Summerhill; Evans, L Williams; Gill, Dacey (capt.), Arhip, S Davies, Thornton, Turnbull, Robinson, N Williams

Replacements: Belcher, Carré, Andrews, Cook, Lewis-Hughes, Blacker, Fish, Smith

Glasgow Warriors: Jackson; Steyn, Grigg, McDowall, Hughes; P Horne, Price; Allan, Turner, Z Fagerson, Swinson, Cummings, Harley (capt), Gordon, Ashe

Replacements: Bryce, Bhatti, Halanukonuka, McDonald, Tamielau, Frisby, Hastings, Nairn

Referee: George Clancy (IRFU)

Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse (WRU), Johnny Erskine (IRFU)

TMO: Leo Colgan (IRFU)