Tommy Seymour’s brilliant quartet of tries rescued Glasgow from a sticky situation in their Guinness PRO12 home opener and left them top of the pile with maximum points from their first two games.
The Scotland wing, already with a brace of tries from last week at Connacht, once again illustrated his superlative finishing skills, turning a ten-point deficit into a lead midway through the second half almost single handed with a double in just three minutes.
The Warriors had struggled to contain a lively young Leinster team until that point with their defence in the first half being suspect, but they shored it up to concede just two penalties in the second half.
Seymour clinched victory with his fourth try with five minutes left as the Warriors even denied the Irishmen, their perennial play-off rivals, a losing bonus point.
The final score seemed unlikely after Glasgow’s difficult first half, which started with a Henry Pyrgos penalty miss and a super team try before Leinster got a foothold they were to enjoy for much of the first 40.
The Warriors’ opening try in 15 minutes started with Leonardo Sarto injecting some power out wide, a sneaky chip up the touchline by Pyrgos which was re-gathered, and a super flat pass from Sam Johnson that allowed Seymour a free run down the other touchline to score.
It went unconverted and Leinster thereafter took control of the ball, going through a series of phases retaining possession without much success until they suddenly hit the home side with a triple counter in the 15 minutes before half-time.
Rob Kearney went over at the corner after a Jordi Murphy run from a fine short pass from Joey Carbery, then Josh van der Flier went through a poorly guarded ruck to run in unchallenged from 20 yards out.
Tim Swinson’s try after good charges from the forwards separated those two to keep the Warriors in the hunt, but right on half-time Sarto saw yellow as Leinster turned the screw and Carbery’s brilliant cross kick bounced perfectly into the arms of the flying Zane Kirchner for a key score.
Glasgow needed a quick spark to begin the second half yet were penalised in possession twice and Carbery stretched Leinster’s lead with a penalty.
But in the space of three minutes Seymour’s opportunism turned the game completely on its head. The wing first read a rehearsed Leinster move to step in and intercept Carbery’s laboured pass and stroll in under the sticks, Pyrgos converting.
Then the Scotland wing promptly got another gift when Leinster spilled the ball in midfield. This time Seymour had to find a way through a crowd of Irishmen, but picked a great line to race 30 metres for another try under the posts, again converted.
Carbery kicked another penalty for Leinster to draw them within a point, but although Hogg missed a long range penalty, Seymour was to have the last word.
The Warriors chose to scrum a penalty deep in the Leinster 22, and a rehearsed move brought Seymour off his wing to run a direct line through tackles under the posts for his fourth score.
Att:7251
Glasgow: S Hogg; L Sarto (L Jones 69), A Dunbar, S Johnson, T Seymour; P Horne, H Pyrgos; G Reid (A Allan 69), F Brown (C Flynn 69), S Puafisi (Z Fagerson 49); T Swinson (T Uanivi 77), J Gray; R Harley, S Favaro (L Wynne 69), R Wilson.
T Uanivi, A Price, R Clegg.
Leinster: R Kearney (R O’Loughlin 57); Z Kirchner, G Ringrose, N Reid, D Kearney; J Carbery, L McGrath (J Gibson-Park 64); C Healy (B Bryne 59), J Tracy (P Dooley 59), M Bent (T Furlong 47); M McCarthy (M Kearney 59), R Molony; D Leavy (D Ryan 71), J van der Flier, J Murphy.
C Marsh
Ref: J Lacey (IRFU)
