GLASGOW either showed fantastic courage and resilience to rescue a game they nearly threw away or they escaped humiliation when they made the most of their luck and woeful goal-kicking from their hosts.
Those are two ways of looking at the same thing depending on whether you are a glass half-full or half-empty person. Both are valid. They did score five tries, all beautifully crafted and executed, but if either of Treviso’s kickers had been on form it could have been a very different story.
Gregor Townsend, the head coach, was determined to look on the bright side as his team scored their fourth consecutive win going into a key period of the season.
“We had to dig deep and show character,” he said. “The try that the guys produced at the end was brilliant, fitting of a courageous away win. We have a really good record in Italy, we have not lost here in the last five or six years so it says something about this group that even when things were not going for them they can come back and get an important win.
“To get maximum points is really important for us, we are going to have to keep these wins going if we are going to stay in the top four.
“That squad today had 12 changes from last week, it shows we can use 35 players over a couple of games. That is something we are going to have to do during the Six Nations and beyond. For a first hit-out for that team, there were a lot of positives – a number of things we are going to have to work on but to score five tries was great.”
The worry was that it was almost a game Glasgow threw away. They surrendered an early try to Luca Sperandio, the centre, and though they quickly hit back with two quick-fire tries, their error rate was causing problems.
The tries showed the positives, Stuart Hogg latching on to an attempted attacking kick in his own 22 and having the pace to go all the way and Tommy Seymour finishing a break by Peter Murchie, the full-back, carried on by Henry Pyrgos.
There was also the bad, as a sloppy pass missed its man, went astray over the Glasgow goal-line and Dean Budd, the lock, beat Murchie to the touchdown. That kind of kamikaze rugby was always going to cause trouble and with Italian referee Elia Rizzo penalising them ruthlessly all game they would have paid a heavier price if Tommaso Allan had not missed a couple of sitters to add to the two penalties he did get.
The good was back on display when Adam Ashe celebrated his first start of the season by crashing over for try number three but it was still too close for comfort at the break before Nick Grigg, the centre, pulled his side clear again as he bounced through four tackles for a solo try and the scoring bonus point.
The penalty count continued to rack up against Glasgow – much to Townsend’s annoyance – and a quick tap penalty saw Budd crash over for a try that levelled the scores with seven minutes to go.
Glasgow’s response was impressive. They forced a turnover, spread the ball wide for Sean Lamont to feed Seymour. He lobbed the ball back to Rory Clegg who spun out of a tackle, fell, got back up and made it to the line for the winning try.
“The try, the determination and the skill, the ambition to have a go, there were some great tries,” Townsend added.
Benetton Treviso: Tries: Sperandio, Budd (2). Cons: Allan, McKinley. Pens: Allan (2), McKinley.
Glasgow Warriors: Tries: Hogg, Seymour, Ashe, Grigg, Clegg. Cons: Hogg (5)
Benetton Treviso: L McLean; A Esposito, T Benvenuti, L Morisi (T Iannone, 61), L Sperandio; T Allan (I McKinley, 52), G Bronzini (E Gori, 64); A De Marchi (F Zani, 52), D Giazzon (R Santamaria, 76), M Zanusso (T Pasquali, 56), M Fuser, D Budd, R Barbieri (T Paulo, 61), A Steyn, M Barbini (M Lazzaroni, 47).
Glasgow Warriors: P Murchie; J Bulumakau (S Lamont, 57), N Grigg (R Clegg, 72), S Johnson, T Seymour; S Hogg, H Pyrgos (C) (N Kenatale, 77); G Reid (A Allan, 63), P MacArthur (C Flynn, 63), D Rae (Z Fagerson, 57), T Swinson, B Alainu’uese (R Harley, 48), A Ashe, C Fusaro (S Favaro, 57), R Wilson.
Referee: E Rizzo (Italy)
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