WARRIORS kept alive their slim chances of snatching an Amlin Cup slot when they completed a Heineken Cup pool double over Chiefs despite giving their hosts a 10-point start and then almost throwing victory away at the end after a fightback.
Gregor Townsend's side had not played since Boxing Day and were caught cold as Exeter bagged a try and a converted penalty inside the opening 10 minutes. The visitors led 12-10 by half time thanks to tries from Sean Maitland and Sean Lamont but Glasgow's hopes of staying in Europe hang on gaining a bonus-point victory away to pool winners Toulon on Saturday while hoping Exeter can give them some help when they face second-placed Cardiff Blues.
It was the Glasgow players' last chance to impress before Scott Johnson announces his Scotland squad for the Six Nations on Wednesday but a lack of action following the postponement of the second leg of their 1872 Cup double-header with Edinburgh appeared to take its toll.
Head coach Gregor Townsend said: "I think we did well in attack in the second quarter of the game and we also defended well in that quarter. But in the second half no-one really got into their game and it wasn't a very good spectacle. Maybe there was a rustiness. We made a couple of breaks and we didn't connect - we turned over the ball in their 22 three times. But we've had a game to get the cobwebs off and when we play Toulon we have nothing to lose."
Home fly-half Henry Slade opened the scoring with a third-minute penalty and then converted after winger Fetu'u Vainikolo scored between the posts under the noses of the Warriors forwards.
However, only a minute later a knock-on by Tom Johnson dribbled forward and Lamont picked up. Sweeping from sided to side, the ball landed with prop Ed Kalman and he then passed to Maitland, off his wing and on the other side, and the Lions player touched down in the corner for an instant reply.
The momentum was with Glasgow for the rest of the half and, after Ruaridh Jackson and Stuart Hogg bounced off some sturdy home tackles and their own front five attempted a few ill-advised offloads on the halfway line, the playmakers found another gap.
A skittled ball landed at the feet of Jackson, who threw a 20-metre pass to Maitland. Lamont came off his own wing and stretched every sinew to collect the ball and throw his body towards the line and score. Hogg converted to give Glasgow a 12-10 half-time advantage.
Hogg slotted a penalty early in the second half but little else of note happened until the 78th minute when the Chiefs earned a penalty due to the Warriors popping up in the scrum.
Ceri Sweeney, on for Slade, heaved the ball into the corner and the Chiefs caught and drove. Warriors, powered by substitute James Eaddie, pushed them into touch and won a line-out. There were seconds left and, with the ball at their own mercy, all they had to do was kick it out.
However, Niko Matawalu had other ideas. Heaving it into the early night sky, the unpredictable Fijian kept the ball in play and Chiefs were gifted a final chance. They inched towards the line, but Fusaro snatched up the ball and the visiting support let out a sigh of relief.
Glasgow: S Hogg; S Maitland, B McGuigan, A Dunbar; S Lamont; R Jackson (D Weir 61), H Pyrgos (N Matawalu 61); R Grant (J Yanuyanutawa 61), D Hall (P MacArthur 49), E Kalman (J Welsh 49), T Swinson (L Nakarawa 69), T Ryder, R Harley (J Eadie 61), C Fusaro (capt), J Strauss (R Wilson 14).
Exeter: L Arscott (capt); F Vainikolo, S Naqelevuki (I Whitten 51), S Hill, M Jess; H Slade (C Sweeney 65) , D Lewis (W Chudley 57); C Rimmer (B Moon 51), L Cowan-Dickie (G Bateman 68), A Brown (L Fairbrother 61), D Welch, J Hanks (R Graham 21), T Johnson (D Armand 57), J Scaysbrook, K Horstmann.
Referee: G Clancy (IRFU)
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article