Glasgow Warriors produced the one genuine contest of the United Rugby Championship quarter-final weekend, holding off a defiant Connacht 33-21 at Scotstoun to march into another home semi-final, this time against the Bulls.
Where the other three quarter-finals were effectively settled by half-time, this one had to be earned. Connacht refused to lie down, trading scores throughout and fighting their way back every time Glasgow threatened to pull clear. The Kick On Rugby review captured the texture of it well: Glasgow always seemed to score the easier tries while Connacht had to work desperately hard for theirs. The western province's run to the knockout stages from a difficult mid-season position was a credit to their character, and the late impact of their bench injected real energy around the ruck, but Scotstoun proved one hurdle too high.
The decisive factor was depth. Once Glasgow emptied their bench with 20 to 30 minutes remaining, the gap in quality told, and a Connacht squad without the same resources simply could not stay with the home side over the closing quarter. Glasgow's blueprint was straightforward, the analysis noted: win the set piece, secure quick ruck ball, and then unleash a backline brimming with class.
And what a backline it is. With Kyle Steyn, Kyle Rowe, Stafford McDowall and Josh McKay outside him, the orchestrator was Sione Tuipulotu, whose reading of the game was singled out as next level. The review broke down two near-identical tries, finished by McKay and Steyn, built from the same piece of Tuipulotu craft. Taking the ball flat, he steps to the outside of his marker, which drags in the next defender and creates the indecision he feeds on, before either firing the short ball inside or floating the pass out the back. The execution, the analysis stressed, worked to a tee every time, and his threat to simply dummy and run through the gap himself only sharpens the dilemma for defenders.
That ability to manufacture space for those around him gives Glasgow a weapon few sides in the competition can match, and it is why the message to the Warriors pack is so clear: lay the platform and let Tuipulotu do the rest.
The semi-final brings a heavyweight forward challenge in the shape of a Bulls side that bulldozed Munster 45-14. Glasgow will need their set piece to stand firm against that South African power, and they may have to do so without Gregor Brown and Max Williamson, two absences that could stretch their forward stocks at the worst possible moment. The Bulls, for their part, carry the warning that they have not always travelled well, while Glasgow have the comfort of another knockout fixture in front of their own supporters.
If the Warriors can win the collisions and feed their playmaker, the rest tends to look after itself. On the evidence of the quarter-final, Tuipulotu is operating at a level that makes Glasgow dangerous to anyone, and a place in the final is very much within reach.
