Glasgow Warriors played all the rugby to leave head coach Gregor Townsend “really proud” but left the Recreation Ground in Bath with nothing but respect as they fell short in the European Rugby Champions Cup quarter-final bid.
The English club’s forward power brought two second half penalty tries and they were hanging on grimly at the death as the Warriors pressed for a winner, but it’s they who progress to a quarter-final against Leinster as the first side to win a European competition pool having lost their first two games. Glasgow, once again, have missed out at the pool stages.
The Warriors scored two superb tries and looked far more threatening than Bath’s much-touted three-quarters, who were held in check by a smothering defence.
However the Scottish side were undone at the scrummage and latterly the driving lineout, conceding both decisive penalty tries from those setpieces.
For Townsend, who saw tries by Alex Dunbar and Richie Vernon take his side to the brink of a famous victory and to win the pool with Toulouse’s shock loss to Montpellier, it was regretful pride in his side’s performance.
“I was really proud of the players’ efforts and how we aspired to play the game, taking on the opposition with ball in hand,” he said.
“We know what a dangerous team Bath are, and for the most part we were well in place with the way we defended.
“Today showed what a great competition this is. It went right to the wire.
“We have come up against three top sides in Toulouse, Montpellier and Bath, and I felt we gave a really good picture of the team we are and what we need to do to get to that next level.”
Bath coach Mike Ford freely admitted that it couild have been Townsend getting the plaudits as the winning coach.
“Luckily it’s us,” he said. “We didn’t play our best and Glasgow played well, but we found a way to win.”
Glasgow performance was all the more remarkable considering their injury and availability problems, without key men such Josh Strauss, Stuart Hogg, Tim Swinson, Ryan Wilson and Ryan Grant.
They had to field a back row of players who normally play other positions, but all three excelled, Vernon claiming his try and Fraser Brown, in Scotland’s Six Nations squad as a hooker, a revelation at open-side.
The scrummage problems to come were hinted in the very first minute when the Warriors were penalised by referee John Lacey they lost the penalty count 16-6 on the day but they struck the game’s first real blow after five minutes.
Straight from clean lineout ball DTW van de Merwe came off his wing to cut a line through a tackle and sent Dunbar racing through on a perfect running line past full-back Antony Watson for an easy try, converted by Finn Russell.
Bath continued to dominate in the scrum and tried to edge their way back into the game, but were restricted to two George Ford penalties while it was Glasgow who twice had chances deep in the home 22 but failed to add to their score.
Just after half-time, however, with a fresh front row on, Russell led a charge out of his own 22, combining with Tommy Seymour and Henry Pyrgos on a brilliant counterattack and the scrum-half put in Vernon for Glasgow’s second score.
Russell missed the conversion, but a marginal penalty near halfway gave Bath the field position and this time they took advantage, the rolling maul being hauled down and referee Lacey heading under the posts while also giving a yellow card to Warriors skipper Al Kellock.
Despite that, and being behind for the first time, Glasgow came out in profit form the 10 minutes a man down as Russell kicked a fine penalty to put his side back in the lead, ironically from a rare scrum penalty decision in their favour.
And they seemed to have Bath panicking going into the final 10 minutes, until Watson burst through only to be held up over the line by a combination of Russell and Sean Maitland.
However Bath’s try was only momentarily delayed, with Lacey again going underneath the posts to award a try when the Warriors scrummage splintered under pressure.
In the final few frantic minutes Glasgow had chances to take the win and the group as Toulouse were losing in Montpellier but opted to tap two penalties inside the Bath 22 rather than trust in their lineout game.
Maitland got close to the line as the Warriors pressed but Bath forced a turnover and cleared to safety to clinch victory.
Att: 13,349
Bath: A Watson; H Aguila, J Joseph, K Eastmond (B Devoto 6 (S Burgess 71)), M Banahan; G Ford, C Cook (P Stringer 63); P James (N Auterac 50), R Webber (R Batty 50), D Wilson (H Thomas 50); S Hooper (capt), D Day (D Attwood 56); M Garvey, F Louw, L Houston (C Fearns 63).
Glasgoiw: S Maitland; T Seymour, A Dunbar (P Horne 46), M Bennett, DTH van de Merwe (S Lamont 63); F Russell, H Pyrgos (N Matawalu 70); G Reid (J Yanyanutawa 40), P MacArthur, M Cusack (J Welsh 40); J Gray, A Kellock (J Eddie 63); L Nakarawa, F Brown, R Vernon.
Ref: J Lacey (IRFU)