Glasgow 15 Leinster 12:FROM THE highs of the Heineken Cup over the past two weekends it was the lows of the Magners League for Leinster as they made it what is lately becoming business as usual in the competition.
"This was a very disappointing team performance," said the Leinster coach Michael Cheika. "We never really put ourselves into a position to win the match"
Leinster were always chasing the scoreline after coming off second-best to a Glasgow side that had pace as well as invention behind the scrum and built a half-time lead of 12-3.
Leinster could hardly have imagined a worse start; they failed to take the kick-off ball and then conceded a penalty, which Dan Parks converted into three points with 36 seconds showing on the clock.
The visitors were quickly given a chance to respond in kind, and with his first kick at goal Felipe Contepomi made no mistake to level the scores.
With nine minutes gone Glasgow appeared to have made the first breakthrough after Max Evans and Lomu Fa'atau combined cleverly to give Evans a clear run to the line. But referee, Gwyn Morris, ruled a forward pass, much to Leinster's relief.
Glasgow, however, made no mistake with their next opportunity for points after Devin Toner had infringed at a lineout, Parks posting his second goal, albeit with a low-trajectory effort.
Leinster came close to hitting back after Cian Healy used his pace to make ground up the right touchline before offloading to Contepomi, only for the centre to be tracked down by the Warriors' defence.
At the other end Glasgow added to their tally with a third successful kick at goal by Parks after Leinster were penalised for hands in the ruck.
Leinster's propensity for winning win the ball illegally was becoming expensive as Jamie Heaslip was shown the yellow card and Parks popped over a simple short-range kick to make it 12-3.
It seemed Leinster might claw back three points after Glasgow were penalised for a straight-arm tackle but Contepomi hooked his kick and a precious chance had gone, leaving the visitors contemplating a nine-points deficit at the interval.
Leinster looked more determined in the second half but their early pressure produced only a penalty by Contepomi, who then narrow the gap to just three points with a 45-metre kick.
But Parks again imposed himself on the game with his fifth success at goal, and though Contepomi added a fourth goal Leinster simply could not plug the gap.
GLASGOW WARRIORS:B Stortoni; L Fa'atau (H O'Hare 75), M Evans, G Morrison (A Henderson 61), T Evans; D Parks, M McMillan; K Tkachuk (M Low 40), E Milligan (P McArthur 70), E Kalman; D Turner, A Kellock (capt, T Barker 40); K Brown, J Barclay, J Beattie.
LEINSTER:G Dempsey; S Horgan, L Fitzgerald, F Contepomi, R Kearney; J Sexton, C Whitaker (capt); C Healy (C J van der Lind 50), J Fogarty (B Blaney 62), S Wright; D Toner, M O'Kelly; R Elsom, S Jennings (S O'Brien 50), J Heaslip.
Referee:G Morris (WRU).
