Key areas assessed as Glasgow downed the Bulls in URC final

Away day blues banished

Glasgow’s historic win percentage away from home in the professional era is just 34%. Ahead of the play-offs, against the other members of the top four, it was just 12% with six wins from 50 attempts against Munster, Bulls and Leinster.

With a home route to the championship undone by a mad ten minutes in Johannesburg versus the Lions, history was definitely against Glasgow even progressing to a final, let alone winning one.

In Franco Smith though, they have the man with the best record of any Warriors’ head coach in away fixtures with a success rate of 54%.

Franco Smith has turned around Glasgow's form on the road (Image: Getty Images)

The former Italy boss has also delivered victories at some of the venues where Glasgow have struggled the most:

• First win at Murrayfield in front of fans since 2016.
• First win away against the Irish big three for four years, first against Munster for more than nine years.
• First win in South Africa since 2018, after eight losses in a row with an average score of 38-20.

That’s not to mention a Challenge Cup semi-final victory at Parc y Scarlets (so often a graveyard for the Warriors’ ambitions); a first win at The Rec; and edging out a Bayonne side who were unbeaten at home in the Top 14 and had even knocked over Toulouse at the Stade Jean Dauger.

The psychology around travelling to away venues has been transformed. There is a confidence around the side that comes from the very top, that has cascaded down through the on-field leaders and now runs throughout the squad.

The last ten minutes

There were some challenging times for Glasgow during the middle part of the season. They held the lead with 10  minutes remaining against old rivals Edinburgh at Murrayfield; in a huge European clash with Exeter; and versus Harlequins while looking for a historic first win in the Champions Cup knockout stages – but ended up losing all three late on.

Marcus Smith scores for Harlequins in the Champions Cup last 16 tie, a match the hosts only won late on (Image: PA)

The play-offs were always likely to test how well the Warriors could cope with the tightest of circumstances in the closing stages.

They entered the final ten minutes 13-10 up on Stormers and stretched out their lead to win. It was a 14-10 advantage at the same point of the game in Thomond Park, where they were able to edge out to seven points in front and hold out a ferocious Munster flurry in front of their home fans.

These moments – even the earlier failures – were the perfect build-up to defending a five-point lead in the dying embers of the final against the Bulls.

There were so many points late on where the game might have been clinched. Jack Dempsey’s disallowed try; George Horne’s penalty attempt which came up just yards short of the crossbar; Huw Jones’ breakdown penalty which was overturned by Tom Jordan’s high tackle and yellow card; George Turner’s breakdown steal which became a Bulls’ penalty due to a phantom knee on the ground.

Any one of these moments could have broken the mentality and belief of Glasgow’s players. Allowed them to take the easy route of thinking ‘well, its’ not our night’ and let their intensity drop.

There was none of that though. This battle-hardened side owned the last 10 minutes of the final and were never going to allow their line to be breached. 

Selection

Franco Smith has been able to get as close as possible to his strongest XV on the pitch at a crucial stage of the season. He has been consistent in his selections as he looked for his side to get better and better with every game as the challenges only became more difficult.

Throughout the campaign he has had to rotate to deal with the twin demands of Test and domestic duties, in a long season that started eleven months ago with World Cup warmup matches for some of these players.

There have been injuries to deal with – and a lot of hard work to get some crucial players back in the lineup for the end of the season.

Having Richie Gray, Huw Jones and George Turner back just in time to get them up to speed for the play-offs was hugely significant, with all three playing key roles.

Richie Gray's return from injury was a timely boost (Image: SNS)

Being able to call on the likes of Sione Vailanu, JP du Preez, Lucio Sordoni and Fraser Brown might have powered up the bench a bit but anyone who has been selected has contributed.

Young Scottish talent like Nathan McBeth, Max Williamson and Euan Ferrie can only benefit massively from the minutes they have played in games that neared Test match intensity in terms of physicality and the pressure faced.

URC Grand Final match stats

Tackle completion – 92%

Defensive work doesn’t tend to draw the same amount of attention as spectacular attack – which is definitely a Warriors’ speciality!

Glasgow were the best team in the URC for tackle completion across the regular season though – the only team to manage 90%+ for this stat.

During the playoffs, against the fifth, first and second ranked teams in the league, they have even managed to improve on this spectacularly high level.

The final was the apotheosis of this as they made 92.3% of their tackles – 180 completed and just 15 missed.

Defenders beaten – 41

While it may not have been the most free-wheeling, high-octane attacking performance of the season from the Warriors, in its own way it was still one of the most impressive.

They were confronted by one of the most powerfully physical sides in the league and managed to beat 41 defenders.

One of the best back rows around – Marco van Staden, Elrigh Louw and Cameron Hanekom – were forced into 13 missed tackles as Glasgow continued the direct, confrontational approach that has served them so well during the playoffs.

Territory – 60%

The Warriors won the territorial battle hands down, with 60% of the game played in the Bulls’ half of the field.

With the hosts only managing two clean breaks all match and just 269 metres with ball in hand (compared to 520m for their visitors), the Bulls were almost entirely reliant on penalties to put them in reasonable attacking positions.

The kicking game was on point, with George Horne (responsible for 16 of Glasgow’s 22 kicks) to the fore.

There was a noticeable step up in the second period, and a sequence of three kicks in a row that Kyle Steyn either won outright or turned over possession from really set the tone after half-time, allowing the Warriors to keep the action pinned in Bulls’ territory.

Breakdown turnovers – 4

It’s a relatively small number – but as noted in the match preview, across their previous two playoff matches the Bulls had only lost a single one of their own breakdowns.

The Warriors managed to turn them over twice at rucks and twice at mauls, including the crucial final moments where everyone piled in to stop the Bulls powering over the try line.

Add in a couple of lineout steals, plus the Bulls only winning two of their four scrums, and Glasgow were able to interrupt the flow of ball to their opponents.

There were other chances that on another day would also have turned into Warriors’ possessions but, even when they didn’t steal ball, they were hugely disruptive to the speed that the home side wanted to play at.