Glasgow Warriors hung on to see out a 29-27 victory over Connacht in the final game of the United Rugby Championship regular-season on Saturday.
Huw Jones, Tom Jordan, Ali Price and Johnny Matthews tries helped Glasgow to a maximum, with Jordan and George Horne adding points off the tee.
Connacht though pushed until the final whistle as their points came via a penalty try and scores from Cian Prendergast and Shamus Hurley-Langton. Jack Carty sent over two conversions and a couple of penalties but the Irish province came up just short.
Both teams now know their United Rugby Championship play-off opponents as Glasgow Warriors will host Munster while Connacht head to face Ulster.
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Glasgow were already assured of fourth place in the URC and started the match like they did not have a care in the world.
They fired through several slick phases straight from kick-off, with Jones and Stafford McDowall making good headway with powerful midfield bursts.
Then Rory Darge appeared on the scene to send Jones over for the game’s opening try with neat back-handed offload.
Connacht bounced back immediately by forcing Jones to carry the ball back over his own line, and then pressurising the home scrum into conceding a penalty try.
Warriors’ scrum continued to struggle, but their play around the park was razor sharp, and they raced back into the lead in the 18th minute when Jordan juggled the ball before streaking under the posts.
The home side lost Scott Cummings to the sin-bin for an obstruction on Caolin Blade and Carty kicked the three easy points for the visitors.
Connacht worked hard to take advantage of the extra man and were rewarded with the lead when number eight Prendergast burrowed over from a tap penalty, with Carty adding the extras.
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Warriors did not panic however, and they struck back before Cummings had returned to the fray with Price finishing off on the left after some sharp link play.
Cole Forbes thought he had scored try number three for Glasgow – who led 19-17 at the break – after Jordan and Jones capitalised on turnover ball, but the latter had knocked-on whilst being tackled and so it was chalked off.
There was no more scoring until the hour mark, when replacement Glasgow hooker Matthews went over at the back of a line-out maul and Horne added the touchline conversion to make 26-17.
Connacht would not lie down though, and after Horne and Carty had exchanged penalties, a Hurley-Langton try converted by Carty made for a tense final five minutes – but Warriors held on.
READ MORE: United Rugby Championship: Munster fight back to seal Sharks stalemate while Cardiff claim Welsh Shield
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