Rennie rues ‘silly errors’
THE treatment room at Scotstoun could be a busy place this week, a combination of self-inflicted damage on the field and after Glasgow Warriors players kick themselves for losing a game they should have at least drawn, maybe should even have won.
Yet, despite making nearly twice the yardage, enjoying two-thirds of the possession, conceding fewer penalties, and missing a fraction of the tackles Benetton did, it was the Italian outfit who celebrated victory.
It was Benetton’s fourth successive win in the Guinness Pro14. But this game – the first time Warriors had lost in 28 matches against Italian opposition – will be remembered for one s t at i s t i c in par t i c ular: replacement Brandon Thomson, pitched in after a blunder from Adam Hastings, missing an entirely kickable penalty in the closing seconds.
On another day when deputy Scotland No 10 blew hot or freezing cold, coach Dave Rennie had decided to hook him with just five minutes remaining.
Rennie, however, focused on the collective rather than any individual.
“In the last couple of weeks we’ve just made silly errors,” he said, having witnessed similar traits in the back-toback defeats to Edinburgh. We did a lot of good stuff in the second half and we built pressure, but it was generally undone by a bit of handling or maybe a poor decision.
“To Benetton’s credit, they worked really hard. There were a couple of times where they looked like they were gone.
“We’ve been defending very well, but three tries came from them getting underneath us. Then we sometimes had slow ball which allowed them to get bodies in front of us. It has to be a hell of a lot better next week,” Rennie admitted, ahead of the forthcoming European Cup clash with Cardiff.
After early exchanges with the ball heading in both directions, Glasgow gave their hosts the chance to kick for field position and, while they repelled the driven maul off the line-out, Warriors’ next problem was entirely self-inflicted as Hastings threw a long pass across the face of his own posts.
Benetton Treviso turned the screw and, after Braam Steyn was held up just short, skipper Dean Budd plunged over.
Tommaso Allan kicked the afters to give Benetton, back at full strength having used the derby against Zebre to rest up their damaged bodies, a 7-0 lead after 15 minutes.
However, from a five-metre scrum, George Horne went left, finding Sam Johnson showing the kind of running that earned him a call-up from Gregor Townsend in October, and he crashed through and over the Treviso line. Hastings converted for 7-7.
Almost immediately, though, Benetton were camping in the Warriors 22, with the visitors toiling to contain Italian squad’s driving maul, which was the vehicle for the hosts’ and Budd’s second try.
But, in the final play of the half, Johnson showed a great side-step to cut between local forwards and burst the Benetton defence, passing inside for the supporting Horne to touch down. Hastings converted and, having toiled for 40 minutes, Glasgow led 14-12 at half time.
The Scots found themselves behind again in the second half as Benetton launched a sustained press, going through 21 phases to work a space for Steyn to score and restore Treviso’s advantage at 17-14.
Just past the hour, referee Joy Neville penalised Benetton for slowing the ball down, enabling Hastings to bang over a penalty, tying the score at 17-17.
Almost typically, Hastings went from hero to zero within a play, trying to run out of his 22, but chucking a forward pass to Johnson, handing the Italians a superb platform from the scrum in centre field.
Benetton pressed and Hastings was caught off-side. Allan did the formalities and the green machine led 20-17.
But, with just 13 minutes remaining, there was still plenty of time for this game to throw up another few twists.
Benetton gave away a penalty for holding man and ball down, an award Hastings again kicked for the corner. Glasgow just didn’t get their maul moving, but when another set-piece wheeled, replacement prop Cherif Traore was called for walking around.
Treviso stifled Horne and Ashe, but Hastings’ pass to Matawalu went a good yard forward and the chance was gone. It was the last contribution from Hastings.
Five minutes remained. Glasgow went for broke in attack, similarly Benetton in defence, but not legally. Federico Ruzza didn’t roll away, and was penalised. It all rested with Brandon Thomson, t he replacement for Hastings, but he pulled his kick to the left.
The last few seconds ticked off the clock with Ian McKinley lining up a penalt y which. despit e hi s preparations, fell short. As did Glasgow, despite desperately playing three minutes into the red. Scorers: Benetton – Glasgow – Benetton: Glasgow: