Matt finish perfect for Townsend
GLASGOW 45
ZEBRE 10
GLASGOW head coach Gregor Townsend singled out 18-year-old Matt Fagerson for praise after his man-ofthe-match performance in a seven-try rout of lowly Zebre.
The young back row forward, brother of prop Zander, capped a fine display by scoring his first try for Warriors in what was only his second start at professional level.
‘Matt was really good for us out there,’ said Townsend. ‘He got a lot of touches on the ball and will have learned a lot. He’s never been behind such a dominant pack and did well in his role.
‘He may just be 18 but showed he’s good enough to play at this level. There were other relatively young players who did well like Scott Cummings and Matt Smith, and when you add in Matt Fagerson, that can only be encouraging for the team as well as Scottish rugby.’
Townsend also revealed that talks have begun to extend the deal of second row Brian Alainu’uese. ‘We’ve not announced anything yet but we’d like him to stay and he’s keen to stay,’ said the head coach, who replaces Vern Cotter as Scotland boss this summer.
Out of Pro12 contention they may be, but a second-string Glasgow managed to rouse themselves against the Italians.
It was hard to believe Zebre had won their last two fixtures against Dragons and Connacht, so easily were they beaten by a home side missing Finn Russell, Stuart Hogg, Jonny Gray and Tommy Seymour.
They will be back for next weekend’s tougher fixture away to Leinster, but young Fagerson deserves another chance.
Centres Nick Grigg and Sam Johnson, who both got on the scoresheet, should also be involved after forming a good attacking partnership.
The floodgates opened after ten minutes. The initial break was made by Cummings, before Grigg tumbled over for the try.
Next to dive over was fullback Peter Murchie, who ran a fine angle to get on the end of a pass from Sam Johnson.
Johnson also set up the third try with a great run from deep inside his own half which led to Rob Harley touching down.
The bonus point was secured on the half-hour mark when Chris Fusaro played in Fagerson.
Zebre made a spirited start after the interval and were in Glasgow’s half for ten minutes, more than they had been in the entire first period. Their efforts came to nothing, however, with Ryan Wilson stealing the ball off Kayle Van Zyl.
The fifth try came from Johnson after he collected a pass from Fusaro to extend the lead.
On the hour-mark, there was a huge roar from the sold-out crowd of 7,231 as Sean Lamont, who retires at the end of the season, was sprung from the bench alongside youngster George Horne, who replaced brother Peter.
Try No6 came from another replacement, Matt Smith, before Zebre finally got off the mark when Van Zyl took a pass from Giulio Bisegni to go over.
Smith added the seventh touchdown for Warriors before Kurt Baker added a consolation second for the visitors.