Glasgow beat Bulls 21-16 to win United Rugby Championship title

Bulls 16-21 Glasgow Warriors, Loftus Versfeld

Glasgow Warriors came up with a strong second half performance as they went on to edge out Bulls 21-16 in the final of the United Rugby Championship at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

This is the first time Glasgow have won the title since 2015 while Bulls now have lost their second final.

Bulls had an incredible record at the venue having lost only one out of their 12 matches played here as they seized early lead within two minutes with Goosen kicking a penalty goal to make it 3-0.

As Wilco Louw was denied a try by the TMO, Goosen continued to pile up pressure with his second three-pointer in the 14th minute and it was all one side traffic in the opening half as Marco van Staden breached the defence of the Scottish club to dive from close range.

Goosen also kicked the conversion as Bulls raced to a 13-0 lead by the end of the opening half.

The first response from Glasgow came early in the second half as Matt Fagerson found a gap allowing Scott Cummings to touchdown and George Horne's conversion brought the gap down to six points.

Nevertheless, Goosen restored nine point lead for Bulls with his third penalty goal in the 51st minute. The momentum once again swung towards the visitors as George Turner crossed over at the back of a rolling maul and Horne improved to make it to make it 16-14.

The decisive moment of the game came in the 62nd minute as Kyle Steyn set up Huw Jones over in the 62nd minute and Horne kicked the extras once again making it 16-21. Glasgow thought they scored again but Jack Dempsey was denied a try by the TMO and with three minutes left in the game the visitors lost Tom Jordan to yellow card for a high tackle on Francois Klopper.

Despite being down by a player, Glasgow held their defence tight as they held on to their five point lead to claim the title.

Team line up:

Bulls: Williams, Peterson, Kriel, Vorster, Arendse, Goosen, Papier, Steenkamp, Grabbelaar, W Louw, Vermaak, Nortje (capt), Van Staden, E Louw, Hanekom.

Reserves: Van der Merwe, Matanzima, Klopper, Ludwig, Carr, Burger, Smith, Smit.

Glasgow Warriors: McKay, Cancelliere, Jones, Tuipulotu, Steyn (capt), Jordan, Horne; Bhatti, Matthews, Z Fagerson, Cummings, Gray, M Fagerson, Darge, Dempsey.

Reserves: Turner, McBeth, Kebble, Williamson, Ferrie, Venter, Dobie, Weir.