Maximum points for Glasgow

Editor

Glasgow moved up to fourth spot in the PRO12 standings after they held off Zebre, winning 33-28 at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi on Saturday.

The two sides were at opposite ends of the table going into this game, with the visitors the heavy favourites.

However, it was the home side who opened the scoring wth a penalty from the boot of Carlo Canna.

It didn't take Glasgow long to hit back. Their first try came on eight minutes. A lovely break from Lee Jones was finished off by Sean Lamont.

Zebre kept their scoreboard ticking over, Canna kicking another penalty after Glasgow were penalised for not rolling away.

The sides continued to exchange points, with two Rory Clegg penalties restoring Glasgow's lead after a period of end to end play.

The Italians scored their first try of the afternoon to level the scores on half an hour. They claimed the kick off before a nice offload to Oliviero Fabiani who crossed to score.

But, Glasgow would take the lead for a third time right on the stroke of half time. Wonderful work from Nick Grigg ended with a try for Fraser Brown in the corner.

The second half did not start well for the hosts, with Giulio Bisegni being shown yellow just two minutes after the break. Glasgow didn't need long to take advantage of the extra man. A poor clearance from Zebre was pounced on by Grigg, who broke through the defence before offloading to Lamont for his second of the afternoon.

The bonus point followed shortly afterwards. Leonardo Sarto, who signed for Glasgow from Leinster in the summer, sprinted down the wing and dotted down for the fourth try.

Nevertheless, Zebre wouldn't give up without a fight. Replacement Tommaso Boni put through a lovely grubber that Venditti was able to collect and finish.

After some heavy Zebre pressure, Glasgow were down to 14 men when Rob Harley was sent to the bin for pulling down the line out. And, with five minutes to go, Zebre closed the gap to five points with their third try through Dries van Schalkwyk after relentless pressure on the Glasgow line.

Clegg calmed the Glasgow nerves with three points from the tee with just two minutes left on the clock.

Despite the spirited fightback, Glasgow held on for the five point victory, with a late Canna penalty meaning they claimed a losing bonus-point.

The scorers:

For Zebre:
Tries: Fabiani, Venditti, Van Schalkwyk
Cons: Canna 2
Pens: Canna 3

For Glasgow:
Tries: Lamont 2, Brown, Sarto
Cons: Clegg 2
Pens: Clegg 3

Zebre: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Kayle Van Zyl, 13 Giulio Bisegni, 12 Tommaso Castello, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Guglielmo Palazzani, 8 Andries Van Schalkwyk, 7 Johan Meyer, 6 Maxime Mbandà, 5 George Biagi (c), 4 Joshua Furno, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 Oliviero Fabiani, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements: 16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Bruno Postiglioni, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Quintin Geldenhuys, 20 Federico Ruzza, 21 Marcello Violi, 22 Tommaso Boni, 23 Lloyd Greeff

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Peter Murchie, 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Nick Grigg, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Lee Jones, 10 Rory Clegg, 9 Ali Price, 8 Ryan Wilson (c), 7 Fraser Brown, 6 Josh Strauss, 5 Robert McAlpine, 4 Robert Harley, 3 Sila Puafisi, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Gordon Reid
Replacements: 16 James Malcolm, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Matt Fagerson, 21 Grayson Hart, 22 Stuart Hogg, 23 Leonardo Sarto

Referee: Lloyd Linton (Scotland)
Assistant Referees: Cammy Rudkin (Scotland), Andrea Spadoni (Italy)