IT was a funny mood on the Glasgow Warriors’ bus as they came away from Parma with their season back on track after another top-notch second-half display, but enough worries about the first period to dampen any over-confidence.
It has been the tale of their grand trip round Italy, 40 minutes of rubbish followed by 40 minutes of brilliance, the reward coming this time in the shape of 36 unanswered points after the break as Glasgow ended in cruise control on their way to a 43-14 win over Zebre. They know a repeat display will not be enough to keep their seven-match winning run going against the Scarlets next week.
Nobody encapsulated the issues better than Alex Dunbar. Playing at outside centre, he was a peripheral figure in the first half – his team-mates never hung on to the ball long enough to bring him into the game and he was confined mainly to defensive duties.
Then came the second half and once the ball reached him, he showed why the Scotland selectors are so keen to have him involved as he cut loose, scoring one try, making another and nearly grabbing his second with an interception.
“We kind of went out there and could not control the ball, made a lot of mistakes. Then we had a few words at half-time, sorted it out and started to play the Glasgow way. We got into our shape and scored a couple of good tries,” Dunbar said. “The first half-hour was really quick, the ball was in play a lot of the time. We just had to come through that period. We did not play well but come the second half they were out on their feet and we took advantage of some space opening up in midfield.
“We scored some great tries from some great support. We are delighted to come to Italy, play two games and go home with 10 points.”
The result leaves Glasgow only two points behind the leaders, Leinster and Connacht, and with two of the top four still to play, they have given themselves every chance of a top-two finish and a home semi-final in the play-offs.
Leinster look to have the easiest run-in of the clubs still involved in the battle – though Edinburgh could do their Scottish colleagues as well as themselves a favour if they could conjure a win in Dublin on Friday – but if Glasgow keep winning, they can come close to catching them.
That means not starting the way they have in Italy and Dunbar understands that: “We know how tough next week [against the Scarlets] is going to be, we have played them three times this season so we know them well. We just have to produce that second-half performance, get stuck into them. We are right up in the play-off places now so we need to stay there.”
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