Glasgow blew away the Blues with two tries before some of the crowd had settled in their seats – and blue was the colour on an afternoon when it was so hard to tell the players apart that one of them later tore a strip off the tournament organisers.
Kick-chasers and counterattackers were confused because the colours worn by the two teams were so similar and so when players ran from deep it was a struggle to identify who was on which side.
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Glasgow wore the slightly lighter shade but the field was a sea of blue. Given the centralised manner in which the game is controlled, someone should have spotted the need for more distinctive kits; it is not as if clubs ration replica options. The tournament organisers chose the kits a fortnight ago – participating clubs have to submit two – but neither side noticed the clash until the warm-up.
Cardiff raised the matter with the referee, Luke Pearce, during the warm-up, but their alternative kit was at their training base 15 miles away while Glasgow only had the strip they stood in. “It was an out-and-out disgrace,” said the Blues’ full-back Gareth Anscombe, who this week joins the Wales squad to prepare for the autumn internationals. “It was tough to differentiate who was in your team and who wasn’t and I have not come across something like this in my eight years in senior rugby. I do not know whose decision it was but [they have] to face consequences for it. It’s a joke and the organisers need to put their hands up.”
The colour clash did not explain the slow start made by Cardiff, who were two tries and 12 points down after three minutes. Adam Hastings finished Glasgow’s first attack after Matt Fagerson released DTH van der Merwe on the left, and the Canada wing provided the second following the restart after Ryan Wilson’s strength in the tackle and the link play of Fraser Brown, Callum Gibbins and Huw Jones.
Cardiff, winners in Lyon the previous week, were too numbed to supply a riposte. A Hastings penalty after 26 minutes was the only further score in an opening period that saw the home side establish an early supremacy up front that gave them two attacking lineouts, but both turned into possession for Glasgow who had been given first use of the wind.
The game was played at a hectic pace but that came at the cost of control. Mistakes abounded but Hastings, who started his senior career at Bath, emerged from the chaos to steer his side to victory. Cardiff, as they had to, seized the initiative after the interval, but not before going 22 points down after Hastings started an Glasgow attack in his own half that saw Van der Merwe come from deep to break the line and set up Ali Price.
Hastings was not afraid to put his boot to the ball to relieve pressure at a phase in the sport when ball retention is a mantra slavishly recited. Cardiff dominated territorially after the break, prompted by Anscombe, and gave themselves an escape route when Aled Summerhill turned Jarrod Evans’s chip to the line into a try.
The simplicity of the score was lost on Cardiff who, for the most part, were too intricate against a defence that attacked the line quickly and foraged for turnovers, slowing the ball down craftily. Willis Halaholo’s forward pass to Jason Harries near the Glasgow line cost the Blues at the end of the first half and Olly Robinson’s knock-on after a break-out in the second period blocked their way back into the match because Jonny Gray scored his side’s fourth try moments later to seal victory. However, Cardiff were without someone to assume the role of general.
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Glasgow had Hastings, who at times showed his rawness but the way he created his side’s bonus-point try showed both vision and initiative. Running from his own line after a scrum and then, when play reached the Blues 10-metre line, he chipped behind the defence for the flanker Fagerson who found Gray on hand to finish off both the move and the match.
Summerhill scored his second try late on but its effect was cosmetic. Cardiff will need to win at least one of their matches against Saracens in December while Glasgow have a double-header against a Lyon side whose interest may have peaked after two defeats. “This is a step up from the Pro14 and we know we have to ask more questions of teams,” the Glasgow head coach, Dave Rennie, said.