Glasgow Warriors secured a home fixture against Munster in the RaboDirect PRO12 play-offs after running in eight tries and securing second-spot in the process in a comprehensive 54-0 bonus-point win over Zebre. In their final fixture of the regular season, Glasgow produced a memorable performance in the opening 25 minutes, scoring five tries to effectively blow the Italians away. Stuart Hogg scored twice, while Alex Dunbar, Al Kellock and Ryan Grant all scored in the opening quarter of the game. Nikola Matawalu scored try number six for Glasgow before the break and but the home side had to wait until the 65th minute for number seven as replacement Geoff Cross went over. And Matawalu wrapped up the win in the final minutes for the home team, taking Glasgow’s try count to eight. Sean Lamont – returning from long-term injury and replacing last week’s hat-trick hero Tommy Seymour – collected an early high ball on the right wing. Glasgow recycled the ball and a sweeping move saw Lions full-back Hogg turn on the gas to score in the corner inside a minute, with another returning international, Duncan Weir, adding the extras. And it could have got worse for Zebre just four minutes later as Weir’s long-range drop goal fell agonisingly short of the sticks. The Warriors started like an express train, knowing a win would guarantee them a home play-off tie, while a bonus point victory would keep up the pressure on table-toppers Leinster. On eight minutes Weir turned down a kick at goal and instead kicked for territory and from the resulting line-out Leone Nakarawa off-loaded to British Lion Grant, who burrowed over for a score. Glasgow looked like scoring every time they got their hands on the ball and only a knock-on on nine minutes prevented Weir scoring in the corner after another powerful run and off-load by wrecking ball Nakarawa. The home side went over their third score on 16 minutes as skipper Kellock collected a line-out in the corner and rumbled over for bizarre score, with Weir adding the extras to make the score 21-0. And the bonus point was secured on 19 minutes as Hogg finished off a flowing move more suited to 7s than the 15-man game, with numerous off-loads, leading to the full-back having an easy run in for his second score – this time Weir missed his kick at goal. Try number five arrived on 23 minutes as Scotland international Dunbar was the lucky recipient of weak Italian tackling, running in four metres to score – with Weir again popping over the conversion. Matawalu his side’s sixth try on the half hour; the Glasgow wing won a foot race against his own player, Hogg, to finish off ball hacked through – Weir claimed the extra two points with a kick. Zebre refused to roll over as they looked to earn a first-ever run of three straight wins in the competition and in the process qualify for the next year’s European Rugby Champions Cup. After conceding 40 points in the opening half; Zebre produced a determined second 40 minutes in worsening conditions to keep Glasgow at bay, driving rain meant free-flowing rugby was replaced by the front five taking over. Prop Cross finally went over on 65 minutes for Glasgow after a period of very little action, with birthday-boy Weir adding the extras to make the score 47-0. Matawalu wrapped up the win in the final minutes, filling in at scrum-half, as he ran in unopposed to score under the posts. And to make matters worse for Zebre, Treviso collected a bonus point in defeat to Newport Gwent Dragons – good enough to secure the Italian berth in the European Rugby Champions Cup next season and condemn Zebre to the foot of the table in the process. Follow us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, sign up to our YouTubechannel for extensive match highlights and sign up for our newsletter for regular updates on the RaboDirect PRO12.
