Cardiff 13 - 34 Glasgow Warriors

Claiming a bonus point win against Cardiff Blues may only have been a small consolation for a rugby nation in mourning, but they showed that Scottish teams can score tries and there are players coming through the system.

Coach Sean Lineen was delighted his team had done something to start the process of putting the smile back on the face of Scottish rugby, saying that watching events in Auckland a few hours before their own game had proved crucial. “It is about Glasgow, but it is also about Scottish rugby. We are better than what has gone on at the moment so we need to really pull our socks up and get on with it, make people sit up and take notice because there are some good rugby players in Scotland,” said Lineen.

“Edinburgh at home to Munster and us coming to Cardiff, two tough teams and it has to count for something that we both won. We showed what it meant to the players. We watched the World Cup game this morning as a team, we were really proud of the Scotland team and the staff; Andy Robinson is an outstanding coach, they have had two very close games which could have gone either way.

“We will look forward to the Six Nations and I’m sure there will be some interesting things happening. We are just supporting the Scotland team through thick and thin, what we do back here can provide maybe a bit of feelgood factor, and winning here by as much as we did – they will read the result, look at the Cardiff team, and see lots of young lads putting their hands up.”

It has been a curious start of the season for Glasgow, wins in Dublin and Cardiff along with three defeats – including losing to Treviso at Firhill in their previous outing. “Last week was disappointing but the performance never wavered we just didn’t turn pressure into points last week, so to do that to a team who always give us a hard time was especially satisfying,” added Lineen.

“An outstanding group of young men have really developed in the last few weeks. James Eddie was excellent, Tom Ryder was colossal in the lineout, the scrum was really strong. With Scotland and what has happened there it is really frustrating, but we are trying really hard. Sometimes it is backs against the wall stuff, but we have to back it up next week.”

Scrum-half Colin Gregor was the man-of-the-match constantly pressurising the home team, scoring the first try in support of full-back Stuart Hogg.

Flanker Eddie showed good pace in sprinting 40 yards for the second score, though the Blues will wonder how they gave him so much space from an inside pass by No 8 Johnnie Beattie running off a scrum.

A 100 per cent kicking record for Duncan Weir kept Glasgow edging further ahead, despite Blues centre Casey Laulala finishing off from a cross-kick. Glasgow right wing Tommy Seymour capped off a promising display with an interception try, having given the scoring pass to Hogg for the fourth.

A charged down kick brought a try for Blues flanker Michael Paterson, but by then Glasgow’s confidence was not to be dented. Scottish rugby may feel deflated, but this felt like the start of the recovery.

Scorers: Cardiff Blues: Tries: Laulala, Paterson. Pen: Sweeney. Glasgow: Tries: Gregor, Eddie, Seymour, Hogg. Pens: Weir (2). Cons: Weir (3) Gregor.

Cardiff: C Czekaj; A Cuthbert, C Laulala, G Evans, T James; C Sweeney , L Jones); S Hobbs, R Williams, S Andrews, P Tito (Captain), D Jones, M Paterson, M Molitika, X Rush. Subs: I Davies, N Trevett for Hobbs 69, R Harford for Andrews 69, J Down for Tito 59, T Young for Molitika 74, R Rees for L Jones 49, G Davies for Sweeney 64, D Hewitt for Evans 49.

Glasgow: S Hogg; T Seymour, R Dewey, T Nathan, C Shaw; D Weir, C Gregor; G Reid , F Gillies, M Cusack, R Verbakel, T Ryder, J Eddie, R Harley (Captain), J Beattie. Subs: P MacArthur for Gillies 40, R Grant for Reid 26, E Kalman for Cusack 59, R Pitman for Verbakel 77, R Wilson for Ryder 63, H Pyrgos for Weir 76, A Dunbar for Nathan 73, P Horne for Dewey 59.