Champions Cup result: Glasgow edge Bulls in last-16 encounter

There was not much separating the teams in a clash played in heavy rain.

The Glasgow Warriors proved just too strong for the Bulls in a last-16 Champions Cup clash at Scotstoun in Glasgow on Saturday, winning a close encounter 25-21.

They will now face Toulon in the quarter-finals after the French side beat the Stormers in their last-16 match earlier in the day.

No South African team will play in the last-eight of either the Champions Cup or second-tier Challenge Cup after the Sharks also lost at the weekend, to Connacht.

The Bulls gave it their all in difficult conditions but will rue not finishing the multitude of chances they created, while their defence was again too leaky and they were also guilty of making basic errors such as not kicking out and not handling the restarts properly.

Tight encounter

The Bulls went 3-0 up after a dominant first 10 minutes but Glasgow scored the first try around the 20-minute mark before Johan Grobbelaar crossed in the corner for the Bulls. A second Handre Pollard penalty put the visitors 11-7 up, but Glasgow were soon back in front with a second try.

A third Pollard penalty on the stroke of half-time gave the Bulls a 14-12 lead at the interval.

And as was the case in the early exchanges of the first 40, the Bulls dominated the first 10 to 15 minutes of the second spell, but without reward. And they would rue that as Glasgow got a third try around the 57th minute after catching the Bulls out wide from a quick-tap penalty.

A fourth try would come in the 72nd minute after a period of good buildup play, with slick handling and phase play, to put Glasgow 22-14 up.

Marco van Staden though gave the Bulls hope late on with a converted try in the 77th minute to leave the teams separated by a single point, but Glasgow would win a late penalty, which they converted to win by four.

All the big South African teams will now have next weekend off before turning their attention to the United Rugby Championship.

Support Local Journalism
Add The Citizen as a Preferred Source on Google and follow us on Google News to see more of our trusted reporting in Google News and Top Stories.