| Glasgow Warriors: (14) 33 |
| Tries: Kennedy, Turner, Rowe, Matthews 2 Cons: Jordan 4 |
| Ulster: (14) 20 |
| Tries: Stewart, Cooney Pens: Cooney, Doak Cons: Cooney 2 |
Glasgow Warriors went top of the United Rugby Championship table after a stirring comeback victory over Ulster at Scotstoun.
Tries from Tom Stewart and John Cooney put the Irish side 14-0 up, but Sean Kennedy and George Turner crossed for Warriors who went in level at the break.
Kyle Rowe scored in the corner to give Glasgow the lead for the first time before a Johnny Matthews double wrapped up a bonus-point win, with Ulster’s only points of the second half coming from Cooney’s boot.
Glasgow are now a point ahead of Leinster after six league games, while Ulster sit fourth.
The visitors raced into a lead at Scotstoun when Stewart peeled off the right-hand side and forced his way over.
Cooney doubled Ulster’s lead off the back of a penalty to touch before finishing from close range, but the away side lost Billy Burns soon after when he failed a head injury assessment.
Warriors then started to click as scrum-half Kennedy celebrated his first home start for more than a decade by finishing off from close in before Tom Jordan converted the first of his four successful kicks.
World Cup winner Steven Kitshoff came on for his Ulster debut 10 minutes into the second half, but before the prop could get involved the Warriors took the lead when Josh McKay found Rowe in just enough space for him to score in the left corner.
Kieran Treadwell was sent to the sin bin for an offence in the build-up.
A Cooney penalty narrowed the gap to two points, but just before the hour mark Matthews came off the bench and got on the end of a well-worked passing move to secure the bonus-point score for the home side.
Jordan’s conversion made it a nine-point lead, and although a Nathan Doak penalty cut it to six with quarter of an hour to play, Matthews then got his second try after sustained pressure and Jordan added the extras.
Glasgow head coach Franco Smith to Viaplay: “We ended up having a lot of deficits in the first half. It is good to get a reward. Character in the team is everything.
“Credit to the coaches and the boys. I don’t like mentioning players but I think Johnny Matthews did well, he brings a lot to the squad.”
Ulster head coach Dan McFarland on Viaplay: “I’m really disappointed. A lot of what we did in the first half was excellent, but for some reason we fell on the wrong side of the referee.
“In the second half we really didn’t get a grip with the physicality and we didn’t finish sets. We put ourselves in a good position, but the penalties we conceded swung the momentum their way.”
Glasgow: McKay, Cancelliere, Tuipulotu, McDowall, Rowe, Jordan, Kennedy; Bhatti, Turner, Z Fagerson, Peterson, Cummings, M Fagerson, Darge, Dempsey.
Replacements: Matthews, Kebble, Sordoni, Gray, Manjezi, Vailanu, Afhsar, Weir.
Ulster: Addison, Baloucoune, Hume, Marshall, Stockdale, Burns, Cooney; O’Sullivan, Stewart, O’Toole, Treadwell, Henderson, Sheridan, Crothers, McNabney.
Replacements: Solomon, Kitshoff, Moore, O’Connor, Rea, Shanahan, Flannery, Moxham.
Sin Bin: Treadwell (50).
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales).
