By LDTT
June 5 2006

Connacht brought their losing sequence to an end on Friday night when they handsomely beat the visiting Glasgow Warriors 33-7. The loss meant Glasgow have missed out on Heineken Cup qualification for next season.

Connacht notched five tries and will look forward to next season, to build on this success.

The result - Connacht´s first win in four games - means Border Reivers will join Edinburgh as Scotland´s representatives in next season´s Heineken Cup. Glasgow, buoyed by their triumph over Llanelli two weeks ago, had everything to play for but a poor display saw Sean Lineen´s men outmanoeuvred.

The Irish province, with nothing but pride on the line, lifted themselves off the bottom rung of the Celtic League as tries from flanker Matt Lacey, hooker John Fogarty, scrum-half Chris Keane, young lock David Gannon and replacement fly-half David Slemen saw them untroubled. Glasgow´s disappointment was magnified as they slipped to 11th in the standings.

Connacht, the League´s long-time bottom side, managed to finish above the Scots - both sides ended the campaign on 37 points, but the westerners pinched 10th place courtesy of their six victories to Glasgow´s five. Connacht got the ideal start when Lacey muscled over from close range in the seventh minute. Fly-half Mark McHugh missed the conversion from wide out on the right but regained his poise on the quarter-hour to add the extras to Fogarty´s effort.

Connacht´s brutish pack were bossing matters up front and McHugh´s sweet right boot had his side constantly on the march. His opposite number Colin Gregor, so influential on his last visit to Ireland - he scored 21 points in a surprise victory at Munster, was kept relatively quiet. Connacht tagged on a third try just before the break when Keane, who, like Fogarty, is part of the Ireland A squad for next month´s Churchill Cup, sliced through for his first League try in three seasons.

McHugh converted for a 19-0 half-time lead. Glasgow scrum-half Sam Pinder got his side off the mark, five minutes into the second half, when he rounded off a neat move for Gregor to convert. But Pinder turned villain moments later when his pass was intercepted by Gannon, another Churchill Cup-bound player, on the Glasgow 10-metre line and the Buccaneers clubman had enough pace to gallop over and bag a converted score. Slemen completed the rout 12 minutes from the end, with McHugh adding his fourth conversion to crown only Connacht´s third win in eight meetings with Glasgow.

Connacht: 15 Matt Mostyn, 14 Darren Yapp, 13 John Hearty, 12 Gavin Williams, 11 Conor McPhillips, 10 Mark McHugh, 9 Chris Keane, 8 Colm Rigney, 7 Matt Lacey, 6 John Muldoon, 5 Andrew Farley (c), 4 David Gannon, 3 Stephen Knoop, 2 John Fogarty, 1 Ray Hogan. Replacements: 16 Joe Merrigan, 17 Adrian Clarke, 18 David McGowan, 19 Michael Swift, 20 Conor O'Loughlin, 21 Paul Warwick, 22 Conor McPhillips.

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Graydon Staniforth, 14 Spencer Davey, 13 Hefin O’Hare, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Rory Lamont, 10 Colin Gregor, 9 Sam Pinder, 8 John Beattie, 7 Donnie Macfadyen (capt), 6 Jon Petrie, 5 Dan Turner, 4 James Eddie, 3 Kevin Tkachuk, 2 Fergus Thomson, 1 Stuart Corsar. Replacements: 16 Eric Milligan, 17 Scott Lawson, 18 Craig Hamilton, 19 John Barclay, 20 Andrew Wilson, 21 Dan Parks, 22 Iain Kennedy. Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU) Touch judges: Peter Fitzgibbon (IRFU), Andrew Baird (IRFU)

Connacht scorers: Lacey, Fogarty, Keane, Gannon, Slemen 1 try each McHugh 4 cons

Glasgow scorers: Pinder try, Gregor con

Sourced at: celticleague.com