Glasgow 30-38 La Rochelle: Warriors' Champions Cup out of their own hands
- Published
Josh McKay crossed for Glasgow but they were well beaten by La Rochelle
Heineken Champions Cup Pool A |
|---|
Glasgow Warriors (9) 30 |
Tries: McKay, Smith 2 Cons: Thompson, Weir 2 Pens: Thompson 3 |
La Rochelle (15) 38 |
Tries: Rhule, Pa Boudehent, Bourgarit, Pi Boudehent Cons: Popelin 3 Pens: Popelin 3, West |
Glasgow's Champions Cup fate is out of their own hands after a 38-30 defeat by La Rochelle left them in need of other results to progress.
Raymond Rhule and Paul Boudehent crossed for La Rochelle as they built up a 15-9 half-time advantage.
Josh McKay's converted try gave Glasgow a lead but Pierre Bourgarit and Pierre Boudehent took La Rochelle well clear.
Ollie Smith's two late scores gave the hosts hope but they had given themselves too much to do.
Should Montpellier lose without taking a bonus point against Exeter Chiefs and Ospreys fail to win against Sale on Sunday, Glasgow will play Leicester in the last 16.
It was another sobering European night for Glasgow. After being humbled by Exeter last week, Glasgow's task could not have been clearer. To guarantee a spot in the last 16 they needed to win.
Given that clarity - and their expected fury from conceding 50 points at Sandy Park - you expected them to bring a thunder to their game from the get-go.
That, of course, reckoned without La Rochelle's power and their own need of a win to guarantee a top-four seeding in the knockouts.
The visitors dominated much of the contest. They played at a tempo and with an adventure they rarely showed in the first meeting.
They attacked with a variety that bamboozled Glasgow and had them hanging on from early in the evening. They won by a wide margin but it could and should have been wider still. Glasgow were ripped apart.
By rights La Rochelle should have had a penalty try inside the first five minutes when Glasgow illegally sacked a maul that was heading inexorably for the try line.
Fraser Brown was binned for his part in that. Glasgow got lucky - and then got the lead when Ross Thompson banged over a penalty. His boot was their only respite for the longest time.
Pierre Popelin levelled it soon after. If there was a fault in La Rochelle's game it was their wastefulness - admittedly in the face of strong Glasgow defence.
It was the one part of their game that functioned at that point although even that one aspect broke down long before the end.
After banging on the door and getting repelled, the French side eventually broke it down when South African Rhule stretched to score. Quick ball did it.
La Rochelle led 10-3, then by 10-6 after Thompson did the necessary from the placed ball, then by 10-9 when Thompson repeated the trick.
A one-point lead was a bit of a joke considering the dominance of the visitors. Even that slender margin might have vanished had McKay not taken the unwise decision to ignore Kyle Steyn outside him to go inside and into heavy traffic.
Two minutes later, just before the break, La Rochelle found their range again. More pressure, a barrelling line-out maul and a score for Paul Boudehent. They led by six points at half-time, a feeble reflection of their superiority.
For the briefest moment it looked like Glasgow might deliver one of those storming second 40s they have produced in the past, most notably against Exeter pre-Christmas.
Thompson cut through La Rochelle's defence and found space in behind, then threw a precise pass out to McKay to get over in the corner. It was rapid and clinical and it brought Scotstoun to its feet.
Thompson's conversion put Glasgow into a scarcely believable 16-15 lead.
Everything that followed for the home team was grim. McKay's score was the one that galvanised the French and not the Scots.
Pierre Bourgarit blasted through Matt Fagerson to restore the lead within five minutes. The conversion made it a six-point game.
Popelin made it a nine-point game and then Pierre Boudehent made it game over two minutes later.
That try encapsulated Glasgow's wretched evening. Pushing hard in attack in La Rochelle's 22, they spilled it and away came the French, Brice Dulin hacking it downfield ahead of the retreating Steyn and then squaring for Pierre Boudehent to score.
Popelin's conversion made it 32-16. Another penalty from the fly-half worsened Glasgow's pain.
The game done and dusted, there was a consolation score for the hosts when Smith went over from close range at a time when La Rochelle had Gregory Alldritt and Dillyn Leyds in the bin.
Ihaia West's boot widened the gap to 15, but Smith scored a second in the last play.
An eight-point winning margin was a nonsense. For Glasgow, this was unpalatably comfortable for La Rochelle.
Glasgow Warriors: McKay, Steyn, Tuipulotu, Johnson, McLean, Thompson, Price, Kebble, Brown, Z. Fagerson, Cummings, Gray, M. Fagerson, Darge, Dempsey.
Replacements: Smith for McKay (73), Weir for Thompson (68), G. Horne for Price (60), Berghan for Z. Fagerson (63), McDonald for Cummings (63), Wilson for M. Fagerson (63). Not Used: Turner, Bhatti. Sin Bin: Brown (4).
La Rochelle: Dulin, Leyds, Rhule, Danty, P. Boudehent, Popelin, Kerr Barlow, Priso, Bourgarit, Atonio, Sazy, Picquette, Bourdeau, P. Boudehent, Alldritt.
Replacements: Buliruarua for Rhule (71), West for Popelin (64), Berjon for Kerr Barlow (64), Aouf for Priso (63), Papidze for Atonio (58), Lavault for Sazy (60). Not Used: Bosch, Tanguy. Sin Bin: Alldritt (67), Leyds (73).
Ref: Karl Dickson (RFU).