Phil Davies saw his side overcome a major injury crisis that meant the likes of Wales stars Sam Warburton, Bradley Davies and Owen Williams missed the trip north as the Blues made it three wins in four European outings this term.
A huge early penalty from Rhys Patchell and another in either half from Leigh Halfpenny gave the Blues a deserved win that sees them jump above Heineken Cup holders Toulon at the top of Pool 2. A late converted try from prop Ryan Grant gave Glasgow hope with nine minutes left but Duncan Weir missed a chance to rob the Blues of four points when he pushed a long-range penalty wide of the posts with a minute-and-a-half remaining.
With the Blues starting with a substantial breeze behind them, Patchell took advantage by landing one of the longest kicks in living memory with five minutes on the clock. The youngster, who was switched from fly-half to centre due to his side’s mounting injury problems, hit the target from the wrong side of his own 10-metre line to evoke memories of Paul Thorburn’s monster effort for Wales against Scotland in Cardiff back in 1986.
Halfpenny surprisingly missed a relatively straightforward shot at goal with 15 minutes played but he made amends with a more taxing effort to put the Blues 6-0 up with 22 minutes gone.
Glasgow seemed set to claim the game’s opening try four minutes later but Scotland and Lions wing Sean Maitland knocked on following Stuart Hogg’s pass with the line at his mercy.
The Blues scrum had been under pressure despite the six-point lead and it almost cost them dear when they struggled at a setpiece close to their own line. Skipper Sam Hobbs was yellow carded with 31 minutes on the clock but the ball popped loose when the Warriors drove towards the tryline from the next scrum.
Glasgow thought they had grabbed a try just moments later, though, when scrum-half Nikola Matawalu dived over close to the posts but the TMO penalised Rob Harley for obstruction as he cleared out Patchell past the ruck and left space for Matawalu as a result.
The Blues led 6-0 at the break and neither side came close to changing that scoreline until Ruaridh Jackson hooked a 45-metre penalty attempt wide of the left post as the wind played havoc with the flight of the ball after 58 minutes.
Halfpenny showed him how it should be done six minutes later as he pushed the Blues two tries clear, but the Warriors dug deep and Chris Cusiter’s inside pass put Grant over to raise hopes of a comeback. Weir slotted the simple extras but he couldn’t quite become the home side’s hero late on as his 78th minute penalty went well wide.
The Blues are out in front of 13 points in the pool ahead of Toulon’s home tie with Exeter on Saturday and a mouth-watering match up in France is next on their agenda in January.
