Jones brace sinks Zebre in Glasgow bonus-point victory 

MATCH REPORT: Defending United Rugby Championship champions Glasgow Warriors bagged their third win a row following a 33-3 victory over Zebre on Friday.

Both sides showed willingness to run the ball from the outset, with Zebre showing their attacking intent in particular which saw the home side concede two penalties in the opening 10 minutes.

Despite all the ball-in-play, it was a scrappy start to the match with both teams unable to make their opportunities count on the scoreboard.

Glasgow earned a penalty inside Zebre’s 22-metre area for not releasing in the tackle and opted to go for the five-metre lineout – from which the Warriors opened the scoring in the 14th minute through a rolling maul with Johnny Matthews crossing the line which Hastings converted for a seven point lead.

Centre Huw Jones broke the Zebre line following a poor tackle attempt by Giovanni Licata that got Glasgow within centimetres of the Zebre line before shifting the ball to the wing where Jamie Dobie dotted down for the second try in quick succession.

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Zebre got onto the scoreboard through a successful penalty attempt by Giacomo De Re after Glasgow got penalised for playing the scrumhalf at the ruck in the 28th minute.

Glasgow extended their lead after applying relentless pressure on attack when Huw Jones went over for Glasgow’s third score in the 33rd minute.

The second-half started much like the first with both sides unable to convert their opportunities, that was until Jones bagged a brace in the 52nd minute to secure the four-try bonus-point after receiving a short pass from lock Scott Cummins as the centre went in under the posts.

Glasgow scored another maul try following a five-metre lineout that stemmed from a penalty following a high tackle by Zebre when replacement hooker Grant Stewart went over for the Warriors’ fifth and final try of the evening in the 61st minute.

The Warriors were almost in again two minutes later when Zebre lost the ball in the tackle and Jones scooped it up and got the ball away to Darge who got his pass to Horne who dotted down under the sticks, but the try was disallowed following a TMO check that ruled that the ball was knocked on by a Glasgow hand.

Zebre had much more scoring opportunities in the final quarter of the match, but couldn’t break the watertight Glasgow defence as the home side kept a clean sheet for a hard-fought bonus-point victory.

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Scorers:

For Glasgow Warriors:
Tries: Matthews, Dobie, Stewart ,Jones 2
Cons: Hastings 4

For Zebre:
Pen: Da Re

Teams:

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Kyle Rowe, 14 Jamie Dobie, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Stafford McDowall (captain), 11 Facundo Cordero, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 George Horne, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Euan Ferrie, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Gregor Brown, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Johnny Matthews, 1 Jamie Bhatti.
Replacements: 16 Grant Stewart, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Patrick Schickerling, 19 Alex Samuel, 20 Max Williamson, 21 Henco Venter, 22 Ben Afshar, 23 Tom Jordan.

Zebre: 15 Geronimo Prisciantelli, 14 Jacopo Trulla, 13 Fetuli Paea, 12 Scott Gregory, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Giacomo Da Re, 9 Gonzalo Garcia, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Luca Andreani, 6 Giacomo Ferrari, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Leonard Krumov, 3 Matteo Nocera, 2 Giampietro Ribaldi, 1 Danilo Fischetti (captain).
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Samuele Taddei, 18 Ion Neculai, 19 Matteo Canali, 20 Iacopo Bianchi, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Damiano Mazza, 23 Ben Cambriani.

Date: Friday, October 11
Venue: Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow
Kick-off: 19.(20.35 Italian time; 18.35 GMT)
Referee: Griffin Colby (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Mike Adamson (Scotland), Chelsea Gillespie (Scotland)
TMO: Morné Ferreira (South Africa)