Saints power past Warriors
George Pisi crossed to kick-off a first-half blitz, before Ah See Tuala scored a brace of tries to put Jim Mallinder's side in command of Pool Three. Peter Horne and Josh Strauss gave the hosts hope, but the damage had been done by Northampton's ruthless forward performance.
The Saints won the ball back after Finn Russell had kicked Glasgow into the lead and Steven Myler sent the ball high into the Glasgow night-sky. The hosts failed to deal with the hanging kick and Pisi pounced to touchdown, with Myler adding the conversion for a 7-3 lead.
It got worse for the Warriors when their scrum was decimated to allow Myler another three-points, before the patience of referee Pascal Gauzere ran-out. Ryan Grant was caught collapsing another set-piece and was shown yellow, with the Saints flyhalf once again on-target to stretch their advantage to 10 points.
The dream start continued moments later after Luther Burrell went on the crash-ball, it was recycled and shipped out to Tuala on the right wing, and the Samoan stepper danced past Stuart Hogg to score.
But a stroke of good fortune gave the Warriors a lifeline, Russell smacked the post with a penalty and Northampton fumbled the ball behind the dead-ball line. And Horne crashed through from the resulting scrum for to rein in the Saints first-half advantage to 18-10.
Myler landed a penalty to complete the first-half blitz, and it was to get even better after the break.
Ben Foden broke clear from fullback to setup another attack, before he kicked through for Tuala to score his second try and Northampton's third. Strauss crossed late-on after Burrell saw yellow, but it was too little, too late.
The scorers:
For Glasgow Warriors:
Tries: Horne, Strauss
Con: Russell
Pen: Russell
For Northampton Saints:
Tries: Pisi, Tuala 2
Con: Myler
Pens: Myler 3
Teams:
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Peter Horne, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Rob Harley, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Leone Nakarawa, 3 Sila Puafisi, 2 Pat MacArthur, 1 Ryan Grant.
Replacements: 16 Shalva Mamukashvili, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Ryan Wilson, 21 Grayson Hart, 22 Richie Vernon, 23 Taqele Naiyaravoro.
Northampton Saints: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Ahsee Tuala, 13 George Pisi, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 George North, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson (captain), 8 Sam Dickinson, 7 Tom Wood, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Christian Day, 4 Michael Paterson, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Mikey Haywood, 1 Alex Waller.
Replacements: 16 Matti Williams, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Jon Fisher, 20 Teimana Harrison, 21 Kahn Fotuali’I, 22 Jj Hanrahan, 23 Jamie Elliott.
Referee: Pascal Gauzère (France)
Assistant Referees: Maxime Chalon (France), Jean-Luc Rebollal (France)
TMO: Gilles Cogne (France)
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