Glasgow 43

Scarlets 6

A SENSATIONAL hat-trick by Taqele Naiyaravoro and a commanding team performance helped Glasgow get their European Champions Cup campaign back on track. After losing their opening Pool 3 game to Northampton, the Warriors needed a resounding win to restore their hopes of qualifying for the last eight, and they got it against an injury-hit Scarlets side who had little to offer but dogged resistance.

The home team only led 10-3 at the break, and the Welsh team closed to 10-6 with the first try of the second period. But Glasgow had been dominant from the start, and eventually they turned their superiority into points, ending the game with the biggest winning margin in their European Cup history.

Naiyaravoro, who had another score chalked off for putting a foot into touch by the narrowest of margins, was virtually unstoppable every time he got possession. Even in this age of bulky wingers, the Australian international is a formidably large individual, whose combination of speed and strength tends to leave defenders trailing in his wake.

“There was a lot of hard work from the boys, and it was an exciting game to win,” Naiyaravoro said modestly after the match. “[The disallowed try] was a bit of a shock - I couldn’t do anything about it, but I just tried to make up for it. I tried my best. The team do all the hard work and I was just finishing for them.

“We just had to work harder in the second half than we did in the first. I thought the second half was a big chance for us to get that win. Everyone was patient and worked that bit harder, and that worked well for us.”

Patience was indeed required after a frustrating first half in which Glasgow should have taken a commanding lead. The opening try, after seven minutes, was initiated by a lineout drive and finished well by Duncan Weir, who sliced through a narrow gap in the Welsh defence. Weir added the conversion to make it 7-0, but Steven Shingler soon cut the deficit with a penalty.

Stuart Hogg should have scored after a loose pass by Shingler headed straight for home, but he fumbled with the line at his mercy. Naiyaravoro then gathered a high kick on the right touchline and embarked on a rumbustious run, bursting through several tackles before touching down only to have the try disallowed by the the Television Match Official.

One way or another, the Warriors should have had a healthy lead by half-time. Instead, they had to make do with a 10-3 advantage, gained through a Weir penalty a minute before the break. That was cut back to four points within a few minutes of the restart when Shingler was on the mark with his second penalty.

Glasgow needed to get the next score to regain control of the contest, and they did through James Malcolm. A lineout drive was again the source of the score, and three phases later the hooker, who was making his first start for the team, forced his way over from a metre out.

Naiyaravoro had been threatening to score all match, and he finally did so after received possession out on the right, bursting through three tackles on the way to the line. A conversion made by substitute Finn Russell made the score 24-6, and a match that had been briefly in the balance had tipped firmly in Glasgow’s favour. With ten minutes to play, the Warriors grabbed the bonus point when Russell found Naiyaravoro with a neatly angled kick. The winger did the rest from 30 metres out, and Russell added the conversion to make it 31-6.

The winger completed his hat-trick five minutes from time after an interception deep in Scarlets territory. Second-row substitute Tim Swinson then claimed his team’s sixth try in the last minute to round off a morale-boosting performance.

The Warriors still need to win at least three of their remaining four pool games to have a chance of going through, which is a tall order in a group that also contains Racing 92. But Gregor Townsend, their head coach, was delighted by the qualities they showed in this game, and was particularly pleased, needless to say, by Naiyaravoro’s towering contribution.

“It’s a pity T’s try was disallowed, because that was a world-class try,” Townsend said. “That showed what he’s capable of. We’ll go through his game and I’m sure there will some things he has to improve on, but he’s a tough man to tackle because he is a big man, he’s quick, he moves left and right very quickly and he has great handling skills.

“‘I saw the first half as a very good performance and didn’t feel there was anything to turn around. It was about building what we were doing. We were up against a quality opponent and you can’t expect to score right through the game, but what you do in the first half often sets you up and creates the platform to go on and win.”

GLASGOW: Tries: Weir, Malcolm, Naiyaravoro 3, Swinson. Cons: Weir 2, Russell 3. Pen: Weir.

SCARLETS: Pens: Shingler 2.

Glasgow: S Hogg ( S Lamont 67); T Naiyaravoro, A Dunbar, P Horne, T Seymour; D Weir (F Russell 57) M Blair ( G Hart 63); R Grant (J Yanuyanutawa 48), J Malcolm (S Mamukashvili 72), S Puafisi (Z Fagerson 57), L Nakarawa, J Gray (T Swinson 57), J Strauss, S Favaro, A Ashe ( R Harley 63).

Scarlets: S Evans; H Robinson, R King, G Owen, M Tagicakibau ( M Collins 69); S Shingler (A Thomas 59), G Davies ( R Williams 67); P John (D Evans 53), E Phillips, R Jones (S Lee 53), G Earle (M Paulino 53), T Price, L Rawlins, T Phillips (J Condy 23), M Allen (K Myhill 69).

Referee: M Raynal (France). Attendance: 6,576.