Glasgow Warriors booked their place in the last 16 of the Investec Champions Cup with a comfortable 29-5 victory over Toulon at a sold out Scotstoun.

It didn’t kill the ghosts of the Challenge Cup Final defeat to the same opposition last May but it will go some way to healing those wounds as they look forward to more knockout rugby. They’ll have to wait until Sunday to discover who they will face in the next round but Franco Smith’s side will be in the draw after seeing off their French foes.

Warriors had to deal with a pre-match blow when Richie Gray was ruled out in the warm-up with a niggle and he was replaced by Scott Cummings while Alex Samuel was one of the replacements. And they survived an early scare when Toulon broke through but Glasgow defended the lineout well and were in control of the ball soon after.

Despite Toulon having a bit of a weakened side due to their slim chances of qualifying for the round of 16, the French side had plenty of players with a point to prove and they weren’t just here to make up the numbers with some good showings early on and they looked threatening went on the attack. The opening 10 minutes were a bit of a kicking competition and then Toulon went for the posts for the first time in the match from a central position near the half way line to but it held up in the wind and was well short of providing the first points of the match from Mathieu Smaili.

And Glasgow thought they had provided the first points after Josh McKay had made a long bursting run forward from his own 22 before getting scoring before a TMO intervention led to score being disallowed for obstruction from Cummings, much to the anger of the capacity crowd inside Scotstoun who were hoping for one of their famous Friday nights.

Toulon had another opportunity to go for the posts but made the ambitious decision to go for the corner and try and get over for a try but some excellent defending from Warriors helped push them back.

There was no stopping Glasgow Warriors getting on the board on 22 minutes though when Kyle Rowe crossed to put his side in front after great work from Huw Jones before confusion reigned over George Horne’s conversion. After it initially appeared to be given, it was then called short and ruled out to leave the score at 5-0.

Glasgow were in complete control on the half hour mark when Jones went from provider to scorer as he found his way through a pocket and got his try before Horne put a simple kick over the posts to put Warriors 12-0 up after 32 minutes.

Glasgow then had the chance to add a third try before half time but a fumble allowed Toulon to survive the attack and go on the counter but they couldn’t capitalise and Warriors went into the break with a comfortable half time lead and had one foot into the round of 16.

The Glasgow crowd were expectant as the second half kicked off but they had to deal with a considerable spell of pressure early in the second period as Toulon saw a lot of attacking threat and they cut the gap when Gael Drean finished off a good move before half time replacement Enzo Hevre missed the conversion.

Some excellent play from McKay offered Glasgow a chance to push forward and they had a scrum on the Toulon 22 to try and add to their lead before the hour mark. They couldn’t take advantage of it though and after some attempts to break through, a penalty was eventually awarded to the visitors who were able to escape up the pitch as they looked to make it a nervy final 20 minutes for the sold out Scotstoun support.

That didn’t come to fruition though and McKay got the try his play had deserved on the night after Warriors were stopped from going under the posts. It came when Glasgow won the ball from Toulon’s lineout and they found their way forward before Oli Kebble sent the ball wide and McKay had a simple finish to put Glasgow further into the lead with Horne adding the extras for the second time on the night.

And they were in complete command of things soon after when they took advantage of another poor lineout from Toulon and Jones raced through to finish it off and put a bit of glamour on things for Smith’s men. Horne had a difficult kick in the wind and he couldn’t quite find the target as it dropped just short of the posts.

Scotland’s Cornell Du Preez was introduced for the visitors and he thought he had clawed back a score with 10 minutes to go but a TMO review ended up going Glasgow’s way this time as referee Carley ruled it out for offside and Warriors remained 24-5 in front.

Warriors then thought they had added another try to things when Stafford McDowall crossed the line but Carley had already called play back for a forward pass in the build-up.

The Glasgow crowd were already in party mode though and they cheered their team onto putting some extra gloss on the victory when Rowe added a final try of the match with the final play of the game.

Glasgow Warriors: Bhatti (Matthews, 52), Turner (Kebble, 52), Sordoni (Z Fagerson, 52), Williamson, Cummings (Samuel, 72), Miller (Ferrie, 39), M Fagerson (Venter, 65), Dempsey, Horne (Afshar, 72), Jordan, Rowe, Tuipulotu, Jones (McDowall, 65) , Steyn, McKay

Scorers: Rowe (21, 80), Jones (30, 65), McKay (61)

Conversions: Horne (30, 61)

Toulon: Devaux (Gonzalez, 70), Baubigny (Singleton, 65), Setiano (Brookes, 60) Rebbadj, Warion, Coulon, Isa, Le Corvec (Du Preez 60), Lobzhanidze (Danglot (65), Sinzelle  Villiere (Rabut, 33), Smaili (Hevre), Tuicuvu, Drean, Luc

Replacements: Halagahu, Tolofua

Scorers: Drean (47)

Referee: Matthew Carley