Glasgow Warriors left it late but eventually overcame a huge challenge from Ulster to clinch a PRO12 Grand Final place.
The Irish province had much the better of the opening exchanges and took control midway through the opening period with Chris Henry’s try.
But Glasgow came out fired up for the 2nd half and kept themselves in touch before DTH van der Merwe levelled the scores on his final Scotstoun appearance 5 minutes from time.
The score sent the 10 000 sell-out crowd into ecstasy but there was still work to be done as Finn Russell lined up the decisive conversion.
However, the Scotland flyhalf did not flinch as he booted Warriors towards the Belfast final, where they will now face the winner of Saturday’s clash between Munster and Ospreys on 30 May.
After finishing top of the PRO12 table for the 1st time in the club’s history, Glasgow believed they could go the extra step and claim the title outright 12 months on from losing to Leinster in the 2014 Dublin final.
Townsend’s side – unbeaten at home since November 2013 – had extra reason to be confident as they squared up to Neil Doak’s side for the 2nd time in 6 days after securing a home semi-final with last week’s 32 / 10 win.
But the Belfast 15 bulldozed in that final regular season fixture looked little like the side which started the play-off clash.
Doak made 11 changes to his line-up, bringing rested big guns like World Cup-winner Ruan Pienaar and Ireland stalwarts Paddy Jackson and Rory Best back in to face the Scots.
Referee George Clancy was also in no mood to do the home side favours. He waited barely 30 seconds before he punished Glasgow’s 1st infringement, handing Pienaar a simple kick for the opening points, but Russell squared it soon after with a penalty of his own.
Stuart Hogg was more ambitious but just as capable when he then slotted a monstrous effort over from 2m inside his own half to put Glasgow in front.
However, Ulster were dominating the breakdown and racked up 3 turnovers in the 1st quarter hour.
Their aggression soon told as Nikola Matawalu found himself double-teamed by Henry and Louis Ludik down Glasgow’s right side, with the Fijian wing left stranded as Henry scampered in for the touchdown.
Pienaar could not add the extras from out wide but there was a further blow for the hosts as skipper Al Kellock – also making his final Scotstoun bow before retiring in the summer – was forced off with a head injury just 20 minutes in, with Leone Nakarawa his replacement.
Warriors looked for an immediate response but wasted decent territory when Ryan Grant was penalised by Clancy after hurrying his scrum engagement.
The Irish referee made himself even less popular with the home crowd when he let Craig Gilroy off scot-free, despite the Ulster wing being guilty of a blatant bodycheck as Matawalu looked to latch on to Russell’s kick into the corner.
Glasgow looked feistier after the break but their rashness at crucial moments played into Ulster hands. Matawalu’s mazy cross-field run had the Glaswegian faithful on their feet but, in truth, it made barely 10m of progress.
Ulster stretched their lead to 5 with another Pienaar kick but Gilroy survived a 2nd contentious call after another apparent tug on the galloping Matawalu.
The home side’s lineout had been misfiring all night and another overthrow saw yet another chance coughed up 2m from Ulster whitewash.
Russell reduced the deficit with a 61st-minute penalty but Pienaar wiped those gains out with another huge kick from wide left.
The Scots’ surge finally came with 5 minutes left. Ulster repelled wave after wave but Glasgow stayed cool and, with the visitors stretched, Russell sprayed a 20m pass out to Van der Merwe, who squeezed over in the corner for his 40th Warriors try.
The try locked the scores at 14 / 14 but Russell showed nerves of steel to slot over the winning kick from wide to keep Glasgow dreams of a maiden title alive.
Final Score: Glasgow Warriors 16 / 14 Ulster
Scorers:
Glasgow Warriors:
- Penalties: Finn Russell (2), Stuart Hogg (1)
- Tries: DTH vd Merwe (1)
- Conversions: Finn Russell (1)
Ulster:
- Penalties: Ruan Pienaar (1)
- Tries: Chris Henry (1)
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