Warriors thump Italians to finish off season in style
GLASGOW 46 BENETTON 25 Glasgow ended their PRO14 season on a high yesterday, running in six tries to go five points clear in fourth place in their conference.
They will hold on to fourth – and possibly claim a place in next season’s Champions Cup
– as long as the Dragons fail to have an even bigger bonus-point win by at least 44 points over Edinburgh this afternoon in their own last game.
It was a far-from-perfect performance from thewarriors at Scotstoun, and Dannywilson knows his team will have to be a lot sharper if they are to stand a chance of beating Montpellier in their Challenge Cup last-16 tie on Friday night in France.
But after a demoralising second-half collapse last weekend against the Dragons, the head coach found a lot to be encouraged by.
“To get a bonus-point win and score six tries was a decent enough day,” Wilson said.
“I thought we played with some pace, which is important against Benetton – quick tap penalties, things like that, worked well for us. It was good to rack up those points to give Dragons something to do. Hopefully Edinburgh can do us a favour and keep that score relatively low.”
Although Scotland forwards Matt Fagerson and Scott Cummings will be out injured, Wilson should have the majority of his internationals back for the trip to France.
He will face some tough decisions in selection, though, given how well rookies such as Ross Thompson have been playing recently. The standoff scored two penalties and converted four of his team’s tries, with late substitute Ian Keatley converting another.
Those two penalties opened the scoring, and although
Benetton hit back with a try by Gianmarco Lucchese, that was their only score of the half.
Back-row forward Fotu Lokotui got thewarriors’ first touchdown, and then, on the brink of halftime with a Benetton player in the bin for a late hit on George Horne, Nick Grigg got the second.
Starting the second half 20-5 ahead, Glasgow let the Italians back into it and a Riccardo Favretto try converted by Edoardo Padovani gave the visitors hope.
A Padovani penalty reduced the deficit to five points, but the Warriors forwards stopped the rot, won a penalty of their own, and after a good burst by Lokotui, Niko Matawalu finished off.
Horne got the bonus-point try, but Benetton got their own third through Marco Zanon.
Man-of-the-match TJ Ioane scoredwarriors’ fifth and although Benetton got their own fourth through Corniel Els, the hosts’ substitute hooker Johnny Matthews scored try No. 6 from the last play of the game.
■ Leinster continued their dominance of the Guinness PRO14 by collecting a fourth consecutive title with a 16-6 win over rivals Munster in yesterday’s final.