Warriors don’t ham it up to bag a bonus point in Parma
ZEBRE 20 GLASGOW 31 For the second game running, Glasgow yesterday made life difficult for themselves by going down to 13 men at one point.
But when you shoot yourself in the foot, all you can do is repair the damage and start marching forward again – which is precisely what they did to claim a bonuspoint win in Parma.
Sam Johnson and Ollie Smith were the two sinners who were binned either side of half-time, which had come with the Italian side 17-10 ahead.
At that point the Warriors’ record of 16 straight wins against Zebre was under severe threat. But, helped in part by two yellow cards for the home team too, they finished by far the stronger team to claim a victory which takes them up to fourth place in PRO14 Conference A.
“It’s five points away from home in a season where we haven’t had many of those,” Glasgow coach Danny Wilson said.
“First half, we left three tries out there where we should be away from them, and maybe a slightly more-confident Glasgow Warriors would finish those opportunities off and get away from them by half-time. But that wasn’t the case, and all of a sudden our discipline let us down a little bit.
“We were playing with 13 men yet again, but we hung on in there and we won the second half 21-3.
“So really what we set out as a game plan worked, we managed to wear them down enough to put them away when they were a bit more fatigued at the end of the game.”
Flanker Gregor Brown’s first start for Wilson’s team lasted only a few minutes before he and Michelangelo Biondelli had to go off following a clash of heads.
Paolo Pescetto and Ross Thompson then exchanged penalties, before the Glasgow man put his side ahead with the first try of the game, adding the conversion too.
Rufus Mclean twice came close to building on the lead either side of Potu Leavasa’s yellow card, but when Johnson followed his opponent into the bin for a dangerous tackle, Zebre hit back.
Two tries from Mattia Bellini, both converted by Pescetto, put them seven up at the break.
Things looked bleak when Smith was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on a few minutes into the second half, and a Pescetto penalty made it 20-10. But it was all Glasgow after that.
Nick Grigg came off the bench to lay on a try for Jamie Dobie, and his fellow-substitute Ian Keatley converted on his debut.
Then, with Enrico Lucchin in the bin, a tap penalty produced a try for Tom Gordon, Keatley again adding the extras.
Grigg himself got the bonuspoint try five minutes from time, and Keatley’s conversion wrapped up the result.