Townsend's class leaves Glasgow with daunting task

Borders 21 Glasgow 6

Glasgow have a mountain to climb to qualify for next season's Heineken Cup after having their new year celebrations ruined by Borders at Netherdale yesterday. The wing Stephen Cranston and the Scotland veteran Gregor Townsend both crossed for tries as Borders secured a convincing victory in the Bank of Scotland Pro Cup. The centre Kevin Utterson also made a vital contribution with the boot.

However, it was Glasgow who had the first opportunity to open the scoring when the scrum-half, Calvin Howarth, was given an early penalty shot. But he could only shake his head in dismay as his 22-metre effort flew past the post and Borders took full advantage of the reprieve.

A promising attack by the No 8 Semo Sititi was broken up when the visiting forwards were found guilty of handling on the turf at a ruck. And Utterson showed Howarth the road to success by thumping over the kick from fully 40 metres.

That was the cue for Borders to take control of the tussle for the next 15 minutes, even though two Howarth penalty strikes left them in arrears. Townsend featured several times in the slick sequence which resulted in Cranston outpacing the Glasgow scrum-half, Graeme Beveridge, down the narrow side to claim the first touchdown. Utterson, who had been short with a long-range penalty, struck the conversion well but the angle was too demanding. He was out of luck again two minutes after the restart with a 40-metre penalty but rediscovered his touch soon after to add another three points.

It was Townsend who delivered the killer blow midway through the half. Stuart Moffat was forced to scramble the ball out of play close to his own line in the wake of the latest Glasgow handling mistake. The replacements, Scott MacLeod and George Graham, combined before the ball was recycled and shipped out to Townsend, who wrong-footed the defence with a shimmy and change of pace to cross the line. Utterson slotted home the conversion and then clipped over his third penalty to wrap up the win.

Borders: Tries Cranston, Townsend; Conversion Utterson; Penalties Utterson 3. Glasgow: Penalties C Howarth 2.

Borders: T Vili; N Walker, J Stuart, K Utterson, S Cranston; G Townsend, G Armstrong (capt); P Thomson, S Scott, B Douglas, D Weir, C Stewart, A Rennick, M Lee, S Sititi. Replacements: G Morton, C Moir, I Fairley, A Walker, S MacLeod, G Graham, S Gunn.

Glasgow: G Metcalfe; S Moffat, J Naufahu, A Bulloch, R Reid; C Howarth, G Beveridge; D Hilton, G Bulloch (capt), A Kelly, O Palepoi, A Hall, A Wilson, D Macfadyen, J Petrie. Replacements: S Lawson, N Ross, G Simpson, A Nicol, T Hayes, A Henderson, Johnstone.

Referee: N Owens (WRFU).