Glasgow’s Heineken Cup hopes were extinguished in an error-strewn display at Scotstoun as Cardiff Blues beat their pool rivals 7-9.
It was a smash and grab by the Blues, who spent almost the entire game on the back foot and were in constant trouble in the scrummage, but if they stole the win it was only because the door had been left open by their hosts.
Again opting not to play percentage rugby against weakened opposition, Glasgow spilled the ball in contact, tried too many risky passes and failed to make their tranglehold at the scrum count.
A late try from Ryan Grant gave them some hope but replacement stand-off Duncan Weir’s kick to win the game with a minute left was wide.
Head coach Gregor Townsend was angry at referee Pascal Gauzerre’s failure to award a penalty try and disallowing another by Niko Matawalu.
“The players put in a huge effort and to have two good tries not given like that was extremely disappointing,” he said.
“They kicked the ball out of scrum illegally and Niko scored a good try in our opinion.”
He did admit, however, that his team had not been good enough.
The first half was perhaps even more frustrating than previous week as the Warriors struggled into a strong wind and were too profligate with the ball.
Ryan Wilson dropped the opening kick-off, but despite some strong defending, a Cardiff penalty saw Rhys Patchell’s attempt the kick from beyond his own 10-metre line make it with plenty to spare.
Glasgow struggled to clear their lines as the wind blew kicks back at them, but a much-improved defensive effort limited Cardiff’s chances to two Leigh Halfpenny penalty attempts, and the Lions hero made the second on 23 minutes.
The rest of the half belonged to the home side, but it was excruciating stuff for the Scotstoun crowd as their favourites conspired to butcher a number of chances.
Successive scrum retreats by the Blues inside their 22 resulted in a yellow card for captain Sam Hobbs, and might have brought the penalty try, but the visitors hung on and when Glasgow swung it wide, Sean Maitland couldn’t hold Stuart Hogg’s pass with the line open.
Glasgow still had the position to force a try, but when Matawalu crashed over the line through a splintered defence, referee Pascal Gauzerre checked with the TMO and found Rob Harley had obstructed a defender.
After that Cardiff reached the safety of half-time still 6-0 to the good, and were content to pick up more gifts at the start of the second half as three miscues cost Glasgow good attacking positions while Ruiradh Jackson missed a penalty.
The home side continued to play risky rugby, Tommy Seymour and Jackson having the ball ripped out of their clutches as they tried to run from the Warriors’ 22.
From the second of those, Glasgow were forced to infringe and Halfpenny kicked his second penalty to take his side nine points ahead with 15 minutes left.
Glasgow won more attacking position from two penalties, but botched the lineout, only for a crooked feed at the scrum by Lloyd Williams to give them the chance to break through at last.
Chris Cusiter, on for Matawalu, got his runners making ground into the 22 and his neat inside pass saw Ryan Grant smash through tackles under the posts, Weir drop-kicking the conversion as the Warriors got their skates on.
Weir had one last chance to win the game with a long-range penalty from another scrum infringement but it went across the posts.
Attendance 5,429.