Lund try slays Warriors
A try from England forward Magnus Lund earned Biarritz a hard-fought 22-18 victory over Glasgow Warriors.
Last Updated: 10/10/09 5:49pm
A try from England forward Magnus Lund earned Biarritz a hard-fought 22-18 victory over Glasgow Warriors.
The French visitors had not been ahead before Lund's scrambled effort on 48 minutes, but their solid defence held firm despite determined if largely uninspired efforts from Glasgow.
All Glasgow's points came from the boot of Dan Parks - who kicked five of six penalties plus a drop-goal - but they paid heavily for a malfunctioning lineout.
The hosts shot into a 9-0 lead inside 15 minutes, taking advantage of Biarritz infringements as they applied good early pressure.
But after Parks' third successful kick, Bernardo Stortoni illegally hung on to the ball on the deck after collecting the restart and Dimitri Yachvili gave Biarritz a toe-hold in the game.
That became a foothold moments later when Stortoni again erred, kicking out on the full from just outside his own 22 and Damien Traille chipped over a simple drop-goal from the lineout.
Biarritz should have been level on 25 minutes but a penalty against Glasgow was reversed for a stamp by Jerome Faure and Parks kicked a huge penalty from his own 10 metre line for a six-point swing.
The French side were working with scraps but they were clinical with every chance that came their way and cut the deficit after Glasgow were caught offside.
Glasgow ended the half with nothing to show for their dominance as Ngweneya made a clean break and with Yachvili at scrum-half, Brusque popped over a drop-goal to level the scores at 12-12 as time expired.
Fragility
The second half was notable for the fragility of Glasgow's lineout, which enabled Biarritz to take a grip on the game.
Parks did manage to put the Warriors ahead again a minute into the stanza and on 45 minutes Biarritz missed two chances to level.
First Damien Traille missed with a drop-goal, but a penalty was awarded for Dougie Hall straying offside, only for Yachvili to slice his kick wide.
The only try of the match arrived moments later. Glasgow had a lineout deep inside their own 22 but could not take it cleanly. The ball ricocheted over the try line and Colin Gregor and Lund appeared to touch it down simultaneously, but the video referee awarded a try.
Yachvili duly converted for a 19-15 lead.
Glasgow began to spread the ball wide in an attempt to break down a swarming Biarritz defence and although Parks missed his sixth attempt at goal, he quickly made amends with a drop-goal.
Yachvili replied with his best penalty of the match 15 minutes from time and now it was up to Glasgow to find a way to the try-line.
They had plenty of possession deep inside French territory but simply could not break through the defensive line.
Their final chance arrived with time expired as Biarritz conceded two penalties inside their own 22, but again there was no way through and Glasgow had to settle for a losing bonus point.
