Defending champions Glasgow Warriors sealed a thrilling 52-36 bonus-point victory over Cardiff while Connacht clinched a nail-biting 24-23 triumph against Scarlets in Friday’s Round Three United Rugby Championship action.

At Cardiff Arms Park, Glasgow Warriors’ Scotland contingent led the way as they put their hosts to the sword in a high-scoring affair.

The Warriors outscored Cardiff by eight tries to five with Kyle Rowe and Tom Jordan scoring a brace apiece for the visitors with Jamie Dobie, Sione Tuipulotu, Huw Jones and Matt Fagerson also crossing the whitewash.

Jordan added five conversions to finish with a 20-point contribution while Duncan Weir also slotted a two-pointer off the kicking tee.

For Cardiff, Dan Thomas, Cameron Winnett, Ed Byrne, Mackenzie Martin and Ben Donnell dotted down with Callum Sheedy and Tinus de Beer (3) slotting conversions while De Beer also succeeded with a penalty.

Glasgow made the ideal start with the game’s first score after just six minutes when Dobie burst through a gap in the Cardiff defence to score. Jordan converted.

Cardiff soon drew level. Dobie pulled his leg back to kick clear from close to the Glasgow goal-line and was pushed over by Dan Thomas, with the flanker diving on the loose ball to score. Sheedy added the extras.

It soon got better for the hosts as they forged in front. The ball was worked through hands from the back of the scrum, with Ben Thomas feeding Winnett to forge over the line.

Cardiff did not have the lead for long, however. A powerful burst forward from Tuipulotu carried Glasgow into dangerous territory, and when play was recycled, Rowe breezed through two tacklers to reach the line.

Jordan failed to convert but atoned with an individual intercept try. The fly-half grabbed Sheedy’s attempted pass in the Glasgow half before running 70 metres for a try that he converted.

Warriors were now well on top and Tuipulotu barged over Sheedy before running around three defenders to land Glasgow’s fourth try and with it the bonus point before half-time.

Cardiff were struggling to contain the champions and soon conceded a fifth score when Jordan fed Jones who strolled over. Jordan again converted.

The hosts made five changes at half-time and soon reaped the benefits when Byrne broke through after numerous pick-and-go forays close to the Glasgow line. De Beer added the extras.

The Welsh side grew in confidence and another thrilling team move concluded with Harri Millard teeing up Martin to touch down and land Cardiff’s bonus point.

De Beer again converted and then knocked over a penalty to draw his team to within four points. Fagerson’s maul try – converted by Jordan – stretched Warriors’ advantage only for it to be cancelled out by Donnell’s scrambled try that De Beer converted.

It was breathless stuff and Rowe claimed his second score after a powerful run from Jack Dempsey carried Glasgow into scoring range. This time Weir added the extras before setting up Jordan for his second score and Glasgow’s eighth to round off a classic encounter.

At Parc y Scarlets, a late Cathal Forde penalty secured a hard-fought 24-23 but deserved URC victory for Connacht over the Scarlets.

The home side thought they had won the match when Sam Costelow succeeded with a three-pointer off the kicking tee in the 74th minute but it wasn’t to be as Forde was the Irish outfit’s hero with his late heroics.

Connacht outscored the home side by three tries to two with Piers O’Conor, Mack Hansen and Ben Murphy crossing the whitewash for the visitors while Jack Carty slotted three conversions and match-winner Forde added the winning three-pointer off the tee.

For the Scarlets, Gareth Davies crossed for two tries with Costelow converting both and kicking two penalties. Ioan Lloyd also added a penalty for the home side but it was not enough to prevent the winless Welsh region from suffering a second loss.

A mistake from Scarlets full-back Ioan Nicholas gifted the Irish outfit an early lead. A cross-field kick from Carty put Nicholas under pressure and his stray pass found no-one, with O’Conor taking advantage to touch down.

Worse was to follow for the hosts when Tom Rogers was sent to the sin bin for preventing a quick throw-in before Connacht appeared to have extended their lead when Dave Heffernan finished off a driving line-out, although the try was ruled out for an earlier obstruction.

However, Connacht were still able to take advantage of Rogers’ absence when another cross-field from Carty provided Hansen with the simple task of collecting to score.

Scarlets received a boost when Bundee Aki was yellow-carded for a high shot on Costelow and they capitalised when Blair Murray and Dan Davis made crucial contributions to set up a try for Davies.

Aki was still in the bin when skilful handling from Johnny Williams sent Eddie James away and he in turn put Davies in under the posts for his second try of the night.

Aki returned in time to see his side regain the lead when Conor Oliver and Paul Boyle combined to set up a try for Murphy with Carty’s third conversion giving his side a 21-14 interval advantage.

A Costelow penalty was the first score of the second half but the fly-half then departed for an HIA, leaving Lloyd to reduce the arrears with another penalty.

Those two penalties were the only scores in the first half-hour of the second period, leading to a tense finish with an error from Hansen gifting Scarlets a needless scoring opportunity.

The wing ran from inside his own 22 and was penalised for not releasing so Costelow knocked over the kick to put his side ahead 23-21, but Forde ensured Connacht had the final say.