Five things we learned as excellent Glasgow thrash Benetton

Captain Kyle Steyn helped himself to a brace while the excellent Matt Fagerson, his back-row colleague Rory Darge and scrum-half Jamie Dobie also crossed.  

The scoring spree took just five minutes to burst into life as Josh McKay carved through the Benetton defence before finding Kyle Rowe who in turn put Steyn away. Adam Hastings converted.  

Benetton appeared to have hit back when Paolo Odogwu, the former Wasps wing, got on the end of a sweeping team move to finish in the corner less than 30 seconds after he had replaced Fiian flyer Onisi Ratave on the visitors’ left wing, only for a last-minute intervention from the TMO to rule out the score for a glaringly apparent forward pass in the build-up. 

From the resulting scrum, Glasgow mounted a period of pressure in the Benetton 22 that ended with Sione Tuipulotu barreling through the midfield and offloading to Matt Fagerson, who sprinted under the posts. Hastings again made no mistake with the extras.  

But Benetton were not to be denied when prop Mirco Spagnolo drove over from a maul on the half-hour, with Jacob Umaga converting to half the Warriors’ lead. 

Sione Tuipulotu thought he’d strengthened Glasgow’s grip on the game two minutes before the break, but his try was disallowed after Tom Jordan’s audacious attempt to keep the ball in play was judged to have gone forward.  

A difficult half got worse for the Italians when they lost lock Scott Scrafton to a mindless shoulder charge on Adam Hastings, who did not reappear for the second half.  

Umaga landed a penalty shortly after the resumption before Jordan pounced upon a loose ball inside the Benetton 22 and fed Rory Darge, who scampered under the sticks. Hastings’ conversion took Glasgow out to 21-10 

The Warriors had their bonus point three minutes later as Jamie Dobie finished a lovely move that began with Matt Fagerson breaking from a dominant scrum and finding captain Steyn, who did well to recycle and put Dobie away.  

The visitors were reduced to 13 when Odogwu was sent to the sin-bin for taking out Kyle Steyn in the air, and the Glasgow skipper made them pay immediately as he skated in for his second, while Euan Ferrie - an auxiliary winger by this stage - added a sixth late on.

From Scotstoun, here are five things we learned.  

Home record remains 

It is nearly three years since Glasgow lost a regular season URC match at Scotstoun, and that formidable home record was a big part of their run to the title last term. It was never really in serious doubt tonight as the Warriors produced an excellent response to defeat in Belfast last weekend with a terrific display.  

Midfield packs a punch - but able to do much more 

Tuipulotu was at the heart of an excellent Glasgow showing alongside his new midfield mate, Tom Jordan. They combined superbly – with both showing deft touches and Jordan also charging over a Benetton defender with one power-laden charge. Had the try, scored by the latter and created by the former, not been chalked off by the TMO, it would have been one for their collective highlight reels.   

Matt Fagerson terrific 

On his return to the number eight jersey he was accustomed to wearing until Jack Dempsey arrived in Glasgow, the Scotland international produced a barnstorming display. He carries superbly – often spinning away from more than one would-be tackle – and showed a good turn of pace to finish his try.  

With another big season, he could well thrust himself into Lions contention alongside brother Zander.  

Officials get the big calls right 

Glasgow voiced some frustration at the way the closing stages in Belfast were handled by the officials, but they can have no complaints with the big decisions this evening as almost all fell in the Warriors’ favour.  

The TMO eventually spotted a forward pass as Odogwu crossed, and intervened again when Tuipulotu thought he had scored. There can be no doubt a red card was the right decision when Scrafton floored Hastings, or that yellow was correct when Odogwu took out Steyn.  

But Benetton let themselves down 

The Italian side have an excellent squad packed full of internationals, and while they were missing a few this evening, the travelling party was still good enough to threaten the champions. But they were well off their best, and ill-discipline cost them dear.  

Glasgow Warriors: Josh McKay, Kyle Steyn [captain] (Horne 52) (Steyn 61) (Matthews 68), Sione Tuipulotu, Tom Jordan (Weir 40), Kyle Rowe, Adam Hastings, Jamie Dobie; Nathan McBeth (Sutherland 52), Gregor Hiddleston, Zander Fagerson (Talakai 52), Max Williamson (Samuel 71), Richie Gray (Cummings 52), Euan Ferrie, Rory Darge, Matt Fagerson (Brown 53) 

Tries: Steyn (5, 64), M Fagerson (17), Darge (47, 75), Dobie (50), Ferrie (80)

Conversions: Hastings (6, 17); Weir (48, 51, 64, 80)

Benetton: Matt Gallagher, Louis Lynagh, Malakai Fekitoa, Marco Zanon, Onisi Ratave (Odogwu 12), Jacob Umaga (Marin 62), Andy Uren (Garbisi 54); Mirco Spagnolo) Aminu 49), Siua Maile (Manfredi 49), Simone Ferrari (Genovese 49), Scott Scrafton, Riccardo Favretto, Alessandro Izekor (Marini 57), Manuel Zuliani, Sebastian Negri [captain] (Halafihi 62) 

Try: Spagnolo (33) 

Conversion: Umaga (34) 

Penalty: Umaga (43) 

Yellow cards: Odogwu (63), Favretto (67) 

Red card: Scrafton (39) 

Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU) 

Attendance: 6,220 

Player of the Match: Kyle Steyn