Match Centre: Bath 19-22 Glasgow Warriors
Huw Jones is one of the try scorer for Glasgow
©PA
Bath Rugby 19-22 Glasgow Warriors, The Recreation Ground
Duncan Weir kicked the decisive penalty goal in the 73rd minute as Glasgow Warriors edged out Bath Rugby 22-19 in their European Challenge Cup opener at The Recreation Ground on Saturday.
Glasgow made a promising start to the game as Lewis Bean used his strength to force his way over the line. Domingo Miotti missed out on the conversion but made amends in the second try when hooker George Turner touched down at the back of a driving maul from a well-taken line-out.
The first response from Bath came in the 21st minute as Wesley White dived from close range but Piers Francis' conversion went wide making it 5-12.
The scores were levelled around the half-hour mark as they captalised on a penalty after Warriors delivered an untidy hit on Arthur Cordwell sending him off for an HIA and eventually Fergus Lee-Warner went over the line. Francis kicked the extras to make it 12-12.
Just as the half-time was approaching, Huw Jones on his 50th appearance for the Warriors managed to overcome Josh Bayliss and White to go over the line and Miotti kicked the extras as the teams completed the opening half with a 12-19 scoreline.
As both the teams were desperate for breakthroughs in the second half, Glasgow were reduced to 14 players temporarily with Bean sin-binned in the 60th minute for repeated infringements and immediately Bath capitalised on the numerical advantage as Matt Gallagher dived in the corner for their third try with Francis improving to take their tally to 19 points.
With everything to play for, the game entered the final 10 minutes and that's when Bath gifted replacement fly-half Duncan Weir a chance to go for posts as he guided the visitors to a thrilling victory.
Team line up:
Bath: De Glanville, Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Redpath, Gallagher, Francis, B. Spencer; Cordwell, Dunn, Rae, Attwood, Lee-Warner, Hill, White, Bayliss.
Reserves: Annett, Boyce, Jonker, W. Spencer, Ellis, Schreuder, Bailey, De Carpentier.
Glasgow: Smith, Steyn, Jones, McDowell, McLean, Miotti, Dobie; Bhatti, Turner, Berghan, Bean, Du Preez, Wilson, Neild, Mann.
Reserves: Fraser, McBeth, Sordoni, Gray, Ferrie, Kennedy, Weir, Fifita.
