Glasgow Warriors storm Bayonne fortress with gripping Investec Champions Cup triumph in France

Smith hails his team as they grab vital win against Top 14 opposition

Bayonne are newcomers to Europe’s top tournament and play with a refreshing elan, but they were edged out by the narrowest of margins at the Stade Jean Dauger as Glasgow Warriors got their Champions Cup campaign up and running with a hard-fought 12-11 win.They outscored their hosts by two tries to one, with Ally Miller and Josh McKay getting the vital touchdowns for the visitors, Ross Thompson converting the first. But Glasgow had to do it the hard way, coming from behind after Facundo Bosch, with a try, and Camille Lopez, with two penalties, had kept Bayonne’s noses in front until the 58th minute.

The hosts have little European pedigree to speak of but they opened their Pool 3 campaign with an impressive draw against Munster in Limerick last week. Glasgow, by contrast, lost at home to Northampton Saints and needed this win to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the last 16. They had to withstand a huge attacking effort from Bayonne in the final minutes but held firm and won a vital turnover. Glasgow will now go on to face Exeter Chiefs and Toulon in their final group games in January and can go into the matches with renewed confidence. Franco Smith, the Warriors coach, paid tribute to his players, and in particular the younger members of his side.

“We're very excited with the win,” Smith said. “The boys fought the whole game, coming back from a deficit in the first half and again in the second half. It was fantastic. Yes, we butchered a lot of opportunities and I think we were inaccurate in the set-piece but a lot of our boys were playing for the first time in this environment so to come away with a win and to do it with a lot of heart, and the way we went about sticking to the processes especially in defence and discipline at the end, was a big character-building exercise.” The only negative for Glasgow on the night was an injury to winger Ollie Smith just before half-time.

Glasgow Warriors' Scottish flanker Ally Miller paces clear to score a try against Bayonne.

Both teams turned down kickables penalties early on in favour of going for the corner and it looked as if it had paid off for Glasgow in the second minute when Thompson dinked the ball out wide to Smith. The winger touched down in the corner but his foot had strayed into touch.

This was Bayonne’s first ever Champions Cup game at home and they weren’t going to sit back and watch. They wanted to run everything and showed some brilliant offloading skills, much to the delight of their raucous support. Rodrigo Bruni, their Argentine No 8, twisted his way over the line but was penalised for a double movement and the game remained pointless until Camille Lopez’s 28th minute penalty. It was a significant moment, stemming from a break from winger Nadir Megdoud who sidestepped his way up the field. He was only halted by Zander Fagerson’s intervention but the prop went off his feet and was shown a yellow card, with Glasgow having previously been warned.

Five minutes later Bayonne increased their lead to 8-0 with the game’s first try – and it was straight out of their opponents’ playbook. They kicked yet another penalty to the corner, won the lineout then mauled their way over the line, hooker Facundo Bosch touching down. The Warriors looked stung but responded with a try from nowhere by Miller. The No 8, making his first start of the season, took the ball from Turner and flew down the outside channel, outpacing Bayonne wing Megdoud for a superb score. Thompson’s conversion reduced the deficit to a single point but Glasgow lost Smith to injury just before the break as he went down clutching his left leg.

Lopez kicked the hosts 11-7 ahead with a long-range penalty early in the second half but it seemed to stir something in Glasgow. They turned the screws, taking the ball up to the Bayonne line and showed patience before switching it left. Thompson looped the pass to McKay who went for a spectacular airborne finish in a bid to evade the clutches of Reece Hodge. Thompson couldn’t convert but Glasgow now led for the first time, 12-11, as the game moved towards the final quarter.

Bayonne's Algerian winger Nadir Megdoud is stopped in his tracks by Glasgow.

Bayonne were gaining dominance in the lineout as Glasgow struggled without Turner, who had been replaced by Angus Fraser. It was a fraught finale and when the home team won a penalty just inside the Warriors half they aimed for goal. Reece Hodge hammered it from 52 metres but it drifted wide, before one last push at the death ended in the hosts coughing up a penalty to spark jubilant celebrations from the visitors.