Matt Kvesic double helps Exeter reach last eight with dramatic Glasgow draw

A home quarter-final beckons for Exeter. A highly entertaining draw at Scotstoun ended in dramatic fashion, as Stuart Hogg took aim at the posts from 60 metres out. Had he been successful with his penalty, the last kick of the game, Exeter would have taken the win, but the ball hit the crossbar. Nobody should doubt that a match such as this might end with Glasgow then running the length of the field to snatch a win – and a lifeline – of their own, but the drama was done.

Victory at home to La Rochelle next Saturday will guarantee the Chiefs that home quarter-final. They are good for it, never more so than on Saturday, playing their way through a stunning start by Glasgow that might have felled a lesser team. And what pyrotechnics the Warriors are capable of. The caprice of a bouncing ball on this artificial surface of theirs denied them further tries, as did the TMO another, in the final 10 minutes, when Adam Hastings’s cut-out pass was adjudged forward. It was a close call.

But for that, and two yellow cards well exploited by Exeter, Glasgow might have taken the win themselves – and nobody could have argued. How they must rue their home defeat to La Rochelle in December.

Exeter know such regret only too well, having endured their own frustrations in this tournament over the years. Now they look England’s best hope this season. This was a rugged performance, high on resilience, both mental and physical.

They needed those qualities, because Glasgow burst into the match, in defiance of the conditions. They had their first try within a minute. George Horne went blind and Tommy Seymour chipped and gathered for the try.

Five minutes later, the Warriors had another, just as sweetly worked, Huw Jones drifting outside Nic White for a 14-3 lead. In a biting wind and on the plastic surface they have never really enjoyed, Exeter looked anything but imperious leaders of the pool.

But they are a more confident outfit than they were when they crashed out here two years ago. Three unanswered tries in the next half-hour secured them the lead. White took the first in opportunistic fashion. Sam Johnson forced a loose pass, which he was on to for a 60-metre gallop to the posts.

More familiar to the Chiefs, at least in terms of distance, was Matt Kvesic’s try just before the half-hour. Callum Gibbons had just been shown yellow. In this era of the soft red card, his elbow to the head of Jacques Vermeulen seemed as clear-cut a case as any, but Romain Poite decreed it yellow. From the position, Kvesic forced his way over from close range to draw Exeter level.

It was the first of two tries Exeter scored while Gibbons was away. Vermeulen rose from the incident to claim that lead. First, Jack Nowell burst down the right, then Ollie Devoto, Jannes Kirsten and Ian Whitten took things further, before Vermeulen finished, as ever from close range.

But, from the restart, Hogg spilled the ball and Glasgow had possession for the last few minutes of the half, which they consummated with a try on half-time. Hastings has ensured that the Warriors are no less dangerous post-Finn Russell. His smart break between Exeter’s two props sent Horne to the posts to tie things up at the break.

It was Glasgow who could have retaken the lead early in the second half. Twice an unpredictable bounce foiled Jones. Instead, a second yellow cost the Warriors.

Exeter cranked up their power game, blasting their way to within inches, coaxing infringement after infringement. Poite chose Fraser Brown’s offence for sanction, and Exeter tapped the penalty, and another, until Kvesic forced his way over. The bonus point meant Exeter had qualified, no matter the result.

This match was too exhilarating to be left at that. In the final quarter, Glasgow scored from short range, Niko Matawalu burrowing in to finish a lineout and drive, which Hastings converted from the touchline.

That forward pass of his denied Johnson a try that might have won the match for Glasgow. Instead, from a scrum penalty, Hogg stepped up at the death for his unlikely tilt at glory. The end result was suitably close, suitably dramatic.