With 33 minutes of this match played, nobody could have anticipated such a thrilling finale. Nor, indeed, the upset it produced.
It had taken that length of time for Glasgow to piece together an attack that moved inside Bath's 22 but by the final and umpteenth blow of the referee, Christophe Berdos's, whistle, Glasgow had completed a double for Scottish teams against English Heineken Cup opposition. It is the first time such a feat has been achieved on the same weekend.
Glasgow will head to Leinster next weekend in fine heart, as the early leaders of Pool 3. Bath will seek instant redemption in the visit of Montpellier.
Richie Gray was Glasgow's hero here, and in gripping circumstances. Highlighting the bizarre, almost freakish nature of proceedings, the winning try followed Duncan Weir's flawed decision to attempt a drop goal, 45 metres out. As that attempt was blocked, Gray charged in to score the winning try in added time. Adding to the sense of excitement, television pictures had to be checked before the score was confirmed.
The score completed a newsworthy few days for Gray. The Scotland international has announced that he will leave Glasgow for Sale next season. A few more performances such as this will ensure that disappointment, rather than anger, is the overwhelming sentiment in Glasgow when the lock moves.
"I was just in the right place at the right time," said Gray. "My main focus is to give everything while I'm still here, that's the way I'll always be."
Gray did not deny that Bath had also made overtures for his services. Bath, unsurprisingly, batted away any such suggestion. "I think I tweaked my hamstring celebrating," said Sean Lineen, the Glasgow coach. "The real thing was that the guys never gave up. We were fortunate with the bounce of the ball but Bath were offside for about four phases in a row. They got away with murder there."
Bath's coach, Brad Davis, said his team had deserved to win, despite the concession of two converted tries and a failure to score one in reply. Before the start of the match, Bath had been forced to replace the centre Matt Banahan with Sam Vesty because of a thigh injury.
"We are bitterly disappointed to lose it at the death," Davis said. "This first weekend of the Heineken Cup has seen a few games decided right at the end and unfortunately we are on the wrong end of one of them. But you don't have time to feel sorry for yourself in this tournament." It was Berdos, rather than Gray, who threatened to be the key figure. The referee awarded 13 penalties, some for minor and disputed infringements. One of them allowed Stephen Donald to mark his Bath debut by putting the visitors a point in front with just a minute to play.
The first half had been scrappy, with Bath failing to make their dominance of possession and territory pay. At the interval, Glasgow could consider themselves fortunate to be 9-6 ahead. "We played some great rugby for the first 25 minutes but we have to credit the Glasgow defence," said Davis.
The young fly-half Tom Heathcote, who kicked 18 of Bath's points, sent his team 12-9 ahead before Stuart Hogg scored Glasgow's first try. The full-back showed a terrific turn of pace, eluding the Bath defence after collecting a Troy Nathan pass. Two further Heathcote penalties and one from Weir meant Glasgow held a one-point advantage with a little over a minute left on the clock. From there, the stage seemed set for Donald, who was back on a rugby pitch for the first time since his penalty helped to win the World Cup for New Zealand. The former Waikato fly‑half, who had stepped off the bench to replace Heathcote, had sliced his first kick of the day into the stand and sent his second over the dead‑ball line. Donald made no mistake, however, with a penalty that was awarded for a Glasgow scrum offence.
Donald was promptly upstaged. Weir insisted later that his drop-goal effort would have been successful had it not struck a Bath hand. Gray wasn't concerned with that, beating his team-mate Rob Harley to the stray ball before just reaching the line.
Home celebrations were under way long before Weir knocked over the conversion, scoring the 15th and 16th points of his man‑of-the-match display in the process.
Glasgow Warriors Hogg; Seymour (Aramburu, 63), Dewey (Nathan, 56), Morrison, Shaw; Weir, Cusiter; Grant, MacArthur (Hall, 56), Cusack (Kalman, 63), Gray, Kellock (Ryder, 56), Harley, Barclay (Fusaro, 64), Wilson.
Tries Hogg, Gray Cons Weir 2 Pens Weir 4.
Bath Abendanon; Woodburn, Hipkiss, Vesty, Biggs; Heathcote (Donald, 68), Claassens (McMillan, 74); Flatman (Beech, 63), Batty, Wilson (Perenise, 63), Hooper, Caldwell (Attwood, 63), Louw, Mercer, Taylor.
Pens Heathcote 6, Donald.
Referee C Berdos (France)
Attendance 4,208.
