Glasgow serve up a Heineken Cup shock to leave Wasps facing exit

Published on Sunday 16 January 2011 20:05

GLASGOW coach Sean Lineen was the least surprised man at Firhill yesterday after his side pulled off another of the great Heineken Cup upsets by beating Wasps, leaving the English Premiership side struggling to qualify for the quarter-finals.

• Colin Gregor scored Glasgow's try as the Warriors beat Wasps convincingly at Firhill. Picture: Ian Georgeson

Lineen had seen it before, notably two years ago when Glasgow stunned Toulouse in France, while Wasps, fresh from winning the Heineken Cup, also came to grief in Edinburgh five years ago. Yesterday, he needed his charges to restore some pride in Scottish rugby after a campaign with just one win in four games and a demoralising thumping for Edinburgh at Northampton on Friday night.

They did that in disposing of a star-studded Wasps side by 20-10 at Firhill in the penultimate round of Heineken Cup pool action, and what made Glasgow's achievement even greater was that they did it without first-choice internationalists Johnnie Beattie, John Barclay, Max Evans, Canadian winger DTH van der Merwe, Graeme Morrison, Chris Cusiter and Rob Dewey.

Lineen said: "The thing we felt through the week was that we had been training really well, and what has happened over the past month, on and off the field, has shaped the squad. We decided we could feel sorry for ourselves or we could make something happen.

"The players chose the latter. The attitude has been outstanding, and you saw that out there today. To get that result is really, really satisfying. These are the days you are involved in rugby for. The frustrating thing is that we need to get consistency, and that's hard when the squad changes from year to year. But I'm delighted with the effort the players have put in. The forwards put in a huge shift out there."

The win was set up by the forward effort, from terrific scrummaging with Moray Low as the anchor and fine lineout work headed by Al Kellock, which pushes both into the Scotland frame for next month. But there was also a "Man of the Match" performance from 21-year-old Ryan Wilson, who stepped into the shoes vacated by Beattie and proved that he is a quality player in the making.

Kellock said: "We saw their team-sheet and spoke about how our individuals had to outplay theirs, and you don't do that by sitting back and coming off the field saying I should have done this or that. It's about 100 per cent commitment and we saw that from Ryan particularly and Moray Low as well - our scrummage was outstanding today.

"The expectations externally was that one team would win it and the other team would try hard, but ultimately lose, and the other team would return south with four or five points. The expectations we had - and that we set from the first day we came in this week - was that we were going to win this game. Regardless of what we were playing for, it was massively important that we won this game."

Lineen admitted that it was hard to have to motivate players year after year with no quarter-final prospect after Christmas, but insisted that this win could act as a real spur, much as the Toulouse victory did, for the rest of 2011.

"It is a bitter pill to swallow to be coming into these games with nothing to play for. But we were beaten by Toulouse twice, and credit to them for that. It was disappointing, yes, but realistic probably as well. What's really important for Glasgow is that we still have some say in what happens in the pool. We're not just making up the numbers. Unfortunately for Wasps, we had a reasonably big say today.

"We're realistic and we know where we are. I hark back to that Toulouse game when we experienced a difficult set of circumstances (the game was delayed by three days] but really came together. Although they beat us in the end, at 60 minutes we were right in the game and left everything we had on the park.

"We set that as the standard. Wherever we play it's about 100 per cent commitment and if that's good enough we'll win and if we're beaten by a better team then you have to say well done to them.

"But what we have got to get totally out of our game is not turning up at times."

Both Lineen and Kellock have experienced enough highs to appreciate that this shock win may bring little tangible reward, but the confidence boost for Scottish rugby just weeks before the 2011 RBS Six Nations kicks off could be significant.