How Glasgow Warriors slumped to their heaviest defeat in a year and what it means for the play-offs

Visitors fail to capitalise on red card and two yellows

A chastening afternoon in Johannesburg saw Glasgow Warriors slump to their heaviest defeat since last season’s Challenge Cup final loss to Toulon, almost a year to the day.

They conceded five tries in the second half to the Emirates Lions despite the hosts having one man sent off and another yellow-carded just before the break. Glasgow just couldn’t make their numerical advantage count and leaked four tries in 10 minutes during a fatal spell in the game’s third quarter.

The final score was 44-21 and it’s the most points Glasgow have conceded this season as well as their biggest margin of defeat. It was uncharacteristic and unexpected and puts a spanner in their hopes of having home advantage throughout the United Rugby Championship play-offs. While they will play their quarter-final at Scotstoun, they look likely to be on their travels for the semis, should they make it that far.

Franco Smith, the Warriors head coach, praised the Lions but admitted his own side’s performance wasn’t good enough and accepted responsibility. “I think everything went right for the Lions,” said Smith. “They played some good rugby and it was five turnover tries. Yes, we have a couple of lessons to take home, but I don’t think anything went wrong. I just think we were unfortunate.

“We didn’t finish our opportunities. That was the message to the boys in the changing room. My mistake. I take full responsibility for that. We could have been more clinical with that side of things this week, so it’s maybe a good lesson now. They didn’t outplay us – we made errors. We created opportunities. If Kyle Rowe’s ‘try’ that was held up had been allowed, the scoreline would have gone completely different in the first half.”

Rowe, who scored the game’s opening try, had another chalked off because he didn’t appear to ground the ball. Glasgow crossed for three tries in total, with Euan Ferrie and Josh McKay scoring in the second half, but left Ellis Park empty-handed as their hosts scored six in total through Rabz Maxwane (2), Edwill van der Merwe, JC Pretorius, Sanele Nohmaba and Hanru Sirgel.

Smith stressed that the heat and altitude were not to blame but the coach felt his team struggled to adjust to playing against 13 and 14 men. Ruan Venter, the Lions flanker, was yellow-carded after 12 minutes for pushing his hand into Tom Jordan’s face. He was then shown a straight red on 35 minutes for leading with his head while attempting to tackle Jordan. The Glasgow stand-off failed a head injury assessment but Smith is hopeful he will be able to return for their final match of the URC regular season against Zebre on May 31. The Lions also lost Horn to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on just before half-time, meaning they started the second half with 13 men.

JC Pretorius, a try-scorer for the Emirates Lions, tries to squeeze past and Glasgow Warriors' Sione Tuipulotu and Kyle Steyn. (Photo by Steve Haag Sports/INPHO/Shutterstock)

“I think in general we went a little bit off script,” added Smith. “We haven’t played against 14 or 13 players that often. I think anyone can see that wasn’t good enough and we’ll take it on the chin and go to the next challenge.”

There seemed little prospect of the second-half collapse when Rowe gave Glasgow an early lead. George Horne put in a smart grubber and Rowe, a more than decent footballer in his youth, hacked on before scoring. Horne converted and it was a double whammy for the Lions because Venter was shown the yellow card for dishing out some afters to Jordan in the build-up. Glasgow weren’t able to capitalise on the one-man advantage and the Lions reduced the visitors’ lead to 7-3 with a penalty from Jordan Hendrikse.

Rowe thought he’d got his second in the 27th minute but there was no clear grounding and it was the Lions who got the next try, Maxwane galloping down the right to score. Then came the disciplinary meltdown. It’s not clear just what Jordan had done to annoy Venter but the Glasgow No 10 was on the receiving end once again from the flanker who was shown a red card. The hosts were then reduced to 13 men when No 8 Francke Horne was sent to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on as Glasgow threatened.

Ferrie forced his way over for Glasgow’s second try which Horne converted to give the visitors a 14-8 lead but things went awry shortly after. Between the 51st and the 62nd minute the Lions ran in four tries. Van der Merwe profited from a turnover after Rowe could have scored again and the Lions winger executed superbly by collecting his own chip. Maxwane then got his second after Erich Cronje robbed Stafford McDowall before Pretorius got the pick of the bunch, creating then finishing after a couple of one-handed offloads. The misery continued as Duncan Weir saw his pass intercepted by Nohmaba who raced clear.

McKay gave Glasgow a glimmer of hope with their third try but there was to be no bonus point and Sirgel scored a late sixth for the Lions. Nohmaba converted four of them and also added a penalty.

Scorers: Emirates Lions: Tries: Maxwane 2, van der Merwe, Pretorius, Nohmaba, Sirgel. Cons: Nohmaba 4. Pens: Hendrikse, Nohmaba. Glasgow Warriors: Tries: Rowe, Ferrie, McKay. Cons: Horne 2, Weir.

Red card: Venter (Lions, 35mins). Yellow cards: Venter (Lions, 12mins), F Horne (Lions, 38min).

Emirates Lions: Q Horn; R Maxwane, E Cronje, J Hendrikse (M Rass 76), E van der Merwe; G Lombard (S Nohmaba 48), M van den Berg; M Naude (JP Smith 46), PJ Botha (J Visagie 64), A Ntlabakanye (R Dreyer 46), W Alberts (R Nothnagel 61), R Delport, JC Pretorius, E Tshituka (R Venter 9), F Horn (H Sirgel 74).

Glasgow Warriors: J McKay; K Steyn (J Dobie 40-50), S McDowall, S Tuipulotu, K Rowe; T Jordan (D Weir 35), G Horne (Dobie 61); O Kebble (J Bhatti 33), A Fraser (J Matthews 33), M Walker (Z Fagerson 33), G Brown (M Williamson 45), S Cummings, E Ferrie (M Fagerson 67), R Darge (J Dempsey 46), H Venter.

Referee: Craig Evans (WRU).