Warrior spirit pulls Glasgow through to grab four-point haul
ZEBRE PARMA 6 GLASGOW WARRIORS 17
It is the mark of a good team to keep winning when they are below their best – and Glasgow were well short of their best against Zebre yesterday.
But, while they travelled home with four points instead of the five they had expected against the league’s bottom side, this is the sort of game they might well have lost last season.
They are made of sterner stuff these days, and head coach Danny Wilson could not be too disappointed with a result that keeps his side in contention towards the top of the URC.
“We can take four points out of it, that’s important,” he said after first-half tries from Lewis Bean and Sione Tuipulotu had helped his side to a third victory in four games.
“I said before the game: ‘Boys, we’re currently a top-four team. Top-four teams come here and do the job.’
“We’ve come here and to an extent we’ve done the job. We’ve got the four points we needed.
“Granted, we wanted five, and we haven’t got them because of not a great performance.
“But if we can play as poorly as in that second half and still hold on and win in Italy, I’ll take that and we’ll say credit where it’s due in terms of character and we can build on that.
“However, I think we all know we’ve got to be better next week facing Leinster at home.”
True enough, the Warriors will have to be a lot better at Scotstoun on Friday against the Irish team, but they will have a lot of key players back for that game.
British & Irish Lions Ali Price and Zander Fagerson, for example, could be involved for the first time this season.
Scotland backs Sam Johnson and Kyle Steyn should also return after being rested yesterday, and Australian international Jack Dempsey should be back after he and Matt Fagerson – who is more of a doubt for Friday – were ruled out of this game at the last minute by illness.
But Fraser Brown looks like missing out on the Leinster match – and possibly Scotland’s autumn internationals too – after being injured in the second half.
“It doesn’t look great at the moment,” Wilson added. “It’s a knee injury that will need to be scanned. It’s tough for him.
“We’ve had a lot of disruption this week,” the coach continued.
“People who were picked couldn’t play for various reasons, we were travelling away to Zebre, a number of players were playing their first game for the club this season – and we’ve come away with four points. So we’ve got to take the positive of that first of all.
“Our second-half performance was poor. But like I said, we’ve come out of here with a win.
“That’s three wins on the bounce. We’re still fourth in the league, we’ll take that.”
Bean’s try from close-range opened the scoring in the sixth minute, and Tuipolutu’s score came after an excellent passing move involving Rufus McLean, Cole Forbes and Rory Forbes. Duncan Weir converted both to give Glasgow a 14-6 lead at the break after Carlo Canna had slotted two penalties for the home team.
In the second half, both teams failed to keep a decent shape. Zebre were never out of it, but in the end the only score after the break was a Weir penalty.