Glasgow 10 - 10 Leinster: Irishmen pull back ten points to draw

HIS hair is now silver-grey, but, after yet another “frustrating” draw for his side, the wonder is that Warriors’ coach Sean Lineen has any hair left to tear out.

He was again left pondering what he can do to enable his side to see out tight games such as this, after Warriors’ fourth draw in seven RaboDirect Pro 12 outings left a huge question mark over their play-off aspirations.

“I suppose this was a ‘good’ draw,” he said, “We defended well, our scrum was very good, I cannot fault the effort – but, again our decision-making and composure under pressure let us down. Four times we were in their 22 and we couldn’t score.

“But the guys will learn from this: they are being very hard on each other in the dressing room.”

If his coach was reasonably happy with the draw, man of the match Tom Ryder was anything but. “That’s two points lost – to be ten points up and let them back in for a draw is very disappointing,” he said.

“We have to learn to close out games like this,” the big lock continued. “The play-offs are still in our own hands, but we have to learn from this one. The way Leinster pounced on our errors shows why they have gone 18 games unbeaten, but, that we expected to beat them shows how far we have come and we are really disappointed not to have done so here. Now we are going to Ospreys next week to win.”

Ryder did demonstrate that a player with a Scottish club can do one basic – the timing of his pass to hooker Pat MacArthur in the move which led to Glasgow’s penalty try was an object lesson to some of the international team.

“We were pleased with that move. We had lost a line-out, but recovered and Pat did really well to get to the try line,” Ryder admitted.

Glasgow, with Ryder and full-back Peter Murchie particularly impressive, led 3-0 at the break, thanks to Ruaridh Jackson’s 30th-minute penalty. Then, six minutes into the second half, Ryder broke up the left, MacArthur was tackled into touch-in-goal as he dotted down, and after consulting TMO Jim Yuille, referee John Lacey awarded a penalty try and sent tackler Isa Nacewa to the sin bin, judging his challenge on the Warriors’ hooker to have been without use of his arms.

But, although a man down, Leinster mounted a sustained spell of pressure and half-time replacement, the giant and highly-influential Devin Toner, drove hooker Richardt Strauss over the line for a try which Ian Madigan converted.

Then, with ten minutes left, after Glasgow were, not for the first time, penalised for not releasing the tackled player, Nacewa goaled the equalising penalty.

Warriors, their pack dominant, staged a fierce late onslaught, but their Achilles heel of poor decision-making under pressure re-surfaced, and an infringement at the breakdown right on the Leinster line let the visitors off the hook.