Friday and Saturday were huge days for the Guinness PRO14 clubs in Europe with eight wins out of 11 secured against Anglo-French opposition. Leinster’s win at Northampton was huge, as was Ulster’s nail-biting finale at home to Quins, but we start our look at the best quotes from the press conferences over in La Rochelle. Warriors raid France In France on Saturday, Champions Cup supporters were treated to a superb game of rugby as Glasgow Warriors came from behind to beat La Rochelle 27-24 and secure four points on the road. The Warriors were 10 points adrift when just on half-time skipper Callum Gibbins touched the ball down over the whitewash from the back of a maul. After going down 21-13 early in the second half, the Warriors scored two tries in 15 minutes through Niko Matawalu and Kyle Steyn to regain the lead. “We showed a lot of character to come back into this game,” said head coach Dave Rennie. “I felt in the first half we needed to earn the right to go wide and we were in too much of a hurry to spread the ball. “We were down 13-3 and hadn’t been playing well so that try before half-time was massive for us. “The big men did a good job there. It came off the back of us just being direct and asking a few questions. “What we found in the second half when we were more direct and went multiphase, we put them under a lot more pressure which is something to think about for next week.” Splash down 💦@CraigWatsonpix delivering the goods pic.twitter.com/Ocvy1CKScP— Glasgow Warriors (@GlasgowWarriors) December 8, 2019 Cockerill likes the fight Spreading around the Scottish love there was more joy in Europe this weekend, this time on Friday night in the Challenge Cup as Edinburgh overcame Wasps 31-20. The match was evenly balanced at half-time as Edinburgh led 10-6, before full-back Blair Kinghorn – a threat all evening – scored just four minutes into the second period. Edinburgh then extended their lead through eventual man of the match Duhan van der Merwe’s second score of the evening to make it 24-6. “It was two good sides having a crack. It’s a proper European fixture, you know?” said Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill. “You’re not going to run away with things, so you have to just try and control all the parts you can. I thought we were brave taking scrums and going for the try and we were positive in that regard. “We could’ve done things a lot better, but you’re not going to run away when you play Wasps – you’re not going to run away by half-time and score three or four tries and be out of sight. You’re going to have to fight and work hard to stay in the game – which we did.” Dragons pride Over in England Dean Ryan’s Dragons faced a tricky task in the Challenge Cup with a trip to Worcester Warriors, going down fighting 34-28. On a dramatic afternoon at Sixways, young No.8 Taine Basham was red carded after 19 minutes. Two late tries saw Worcester run out 34-28 winners – but a late twist saw Luke Baldwin score three minutes from time to snatch a deserved losing bonus point and remain top of Pool 1. “I’m proud of our group,” said Ryan. “That was an incredible shift and we hardly put a foot wrong in terms of organisation and understanding. “I am so proud about how we performed in incredible circumstances. “The emotion in the changing room was that we cannot wait for next week. “We were outstanding, almost as good as anyone could be for that long. “To score twice and hold our organisation and hold a seven-man scrum, I am not sure what else we could have done in that situation. Eventually it would leave some numbers around the pitch.”
