Glasgow Warriors vs Benetton Treviso, Fri, 04/04/2014 - 19:35

In their third home game in a row, Glasgow moved into the RaboDirect PRO12 play-off spots with a bonus point victory over Treviso.

The Warriors faced the Italians in a rescheduled match, after the original fixture was postponed due to a waterlogged pith at Scotstoun in December and Gregor Townsend's side took full advantage of their game in hand over their top four rivals.

Glasgow made a blistering start to the match when Henry Pyrgos crossed the whitewash within a minute of the kick-off.

Three minutes later, Niko Matawalu scored his fourth try in five games before Treviso also touched down.

At the break, Glasgow led 22-10 when Henry Pyrgos crossed for a second time. Finn Russell was on fire with the boot, slotting five kicks before collecting the Man of the Match award.

In the second period, Glasgow notched a fourth try through Maitland, giving them a precious bonus point victory to move them up into fourth place in the league.

Following last week’s memorable win over the Ospreys, Townsend brought in Geoff Cross who made his debut for the Warriors following his loan move from Edinburgh Rugby.

Sean Maitland also made his first start since picking up an injury for Scotland during the RBS 6 Nations and within seconds, the dynamic winger made an impact bursting through a ruck of bodies before offloading to the onrushing Henry Pyrgos who dived over.

Finn Russell missed the conversion but it wasn’t long before the Warriors were on the scoresheet once again.

With just four minutes on the clock, fresh from his appearances for Scotland 7s in Hong Kong, Mark Bennett raced through the centre of the field before passing to Niko Matawalu who was in support. Russell then banged over the conversion to give the home side a 12-0 lead.

Treviso were lively in attack as well and after a well worked move from their backs, they crossed the white line through Alberto Sgarbi before Tobias Botes converted.

From the re-start, Sean Maitland saw a gap on the right flank and pinned his ears back, sprinting towards the line. His run was brought to an end but the winger stayed on his feet and offloaded to Pyrgos who ran in under the posts before performing an acrobatic dive. Russell then added the extras.

Despite Glasgow’s lethal attacks, Treviso were still a danger and reduced the deficit to 19-10 after 18 minutes.

The game was an extremely open affair but that proved to be the last score of the half, despite Glasgow’s best efforts to notch a fourth try.

The Warriors were 19-10 up at the break and six minutes into the second period they were 22-10 up through a Finn Russell penalty.

The 21-year-old was then called into kicking action after 54 minutes when he converted a Sean Maitland try.

The British & Irish Lion with the fluorescent boots lit up Scotstoun when he motored down the wing, darting beyond tacklers before crossing the tryline.

With the Warriors in the ascendency, Peter Horne received a rapturous reception when he took to the field in the black and blue of Glasgow for the first time since suffering a knee injury playing for Scotland in June

After 68 minutes, Glasgow were put at a disadvantage when Tyrone Holmes was yellow carded but the Warriors ensured they didn’t concede and were able to seal another crucial win as they continued their push for the play-offs.