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F. Zanandrea (29'), L. Lynagh (41')
Tries
E. Ferrie (49'), K. Steyn (52'), R. Darge (55'), O. Oguntibeju (77')
J. Umaga (30', 42')
Conversions
M. Urwin (50'), B. Kuenzle (78')
J. Umaga (40', 68')
Penalties
This one told us more about resilience than fluency. Glasgow Warriors were miles off their attacking detail for 40 minutes, trailed by three scores, and still found enough accuracy and power to pinch it late. That speaks to depth and composure, not polish. It also underlines that Monigo remains awkward; even the champions need to grind here.
It also told us something uncomfortable for Benetton Treviso. A 17–0 platform at home should be a banker. Instead, a yellow card, an early back-row reshuffle and a rising tackle count dragged them into a place where one missed tackle or slow fold killed them. They defended with heart but leaked line breaks all afternoon; in the end, that contradiction decided it.
The turn came in the five minutes after the break. Mattia Midena’s sin-bin on 45 minutes didn’t just cost bodies; it cost Benetton shape. Glasgow had been blunted before the interval, but with a man up they finally got front-foot ball. Euan Ferrie thundered in, then Kyle Steyn punched through from width, and Rory Darge ran a hard unders line off quick ruck to make it three tries in six minutes. From 17–0 to level pegging in a blink, purely because Glasgow could finally recycle at speed and ask consecutive questions.
The card sits in a wider picture. Glasgow owned the ball and the gain line for long stretches but were sloppy in red-zone execution until the hour. The carry ledger told you who dragged them back: Zander Fagerson and Rory Sutherland carried like back-rowers, Jamie Dobie and Sione Tuipulotu kept bending edges, and Steyn was a constant threat off his wing. Darge, as usual, linked it all with timing at the clean and a nose for the soft shoulder. It wasn’t pretty, but it was relentless.
CARRIES
CLEAN BREAK
DEFENDER BEATEN
TACKLE
MISSED TACKLE
TURNOVER WON
TURNOVERS CONCEDED
PENALTY CONCEDED
YELLOW CARD
POSSESSION
SCRUMS
LINEOUTS
Those numbers matter. Glasgow’s 67% possession, 13 clean breaks and 37 defenders beaten are not the stats of a side sneaking an away win. They are the stats of a side that left points out there and still had enough thrust to make it tell late. If anything, the four-point margin flatters Benetton. You don’t make 153 tackles with 31 misses and expect to keep Steyn and Tuipulotu out for 80.
Benetton’s first half was opportunistic and sharp. Federico Zanandrea’s strike came off first-phase snap, and Louis Lynagh’s finish just after the restart looked like the dagger. But two things eroded that lead. First, Michele Lamaro’s early departure forced Manuel Zuliani on and shifted the breakdown picture; Benetton still pinched seven turnovers, yet they couldn’t slow Glasgow consistently once the visitors fixed their spacing. Second, the defensive backfield wobbled under repeat stress. Matt Gallagher and Rhyno Smith missed nine tackles between them and coughed up ball in contact. With Glasgow winning the kicking duels off contestables and folding their midfield around exits, those backfield cracks turned into line breaks.
There were platforms Benetton did like. Their scrum shaded it and Jacob Umaga kicked them back in front on 68 minutes. Niccolò and Lorenzo Cannone were grafting machines — 31 tackles and 15 carries between them — and Leonardo Marin worked overtime in the line. But the lineout wasn’t clean enough at 75%, and the yellow at 45 minutes changed the rhythm of the night. When you’re tackling yourself to a standstill, the last quarter becomes about one decisive defensive set. They didn’t find it.
Glasgow’s finishers did. The bench told in two ways: energy and clarity. Olujare Oguntibeju came on and finished the decisive movement with three minutes to go — a neat illustration of how Glasgow finally got their detail right, folding Benetton narrow through tight carries before hitting the seam. Bayley Kuenzle’s conversion was calm. Before that, Tuipulotu and Stafford McDowall had begun punching tidy, direct shapes that were missing before half-time. Once the visitors stopped overplaying, the tries arrived.
There are Glasgow caveats. Two missed conversions kept Benetton interested, and a 67% scrum will worry them on tougher away days. More to the point, they needed a yellow card to unlock a game they were otherwise controlling territorially; that first-half bluntness is a trend they don’t want. But the spine — Fagerson, Darge, Tuipulotu, Steyn — looks hard, and their ability to close on the road is the mark of a side that expects to be top four again.
For Benetton, this is a lesson in game management rather than effort. They produced big moments — Zanandrea’s line, Lynagh’s finish, Umaga’s boot — and their loose forwards emptied the tank. Yet 31 missed tackles and an inability to exit under heat make any lead fragile. Add a damaging card and the early loss of Lamaro, and the picture is clear: discipline and defensive accuracy have to hold if Monigo is to be the leveller they need.
So Glasgow leave with four points earned the hard way and a reminder to sharpen up earlier. Benetton are left with a knot in the stomach and a fix-list that starts at tackle height, exits and keeping 15 on the field. The takeaway is simple: the champions can chase down a game with ball in hand; Benetton can’t afford to give them that many chances to try.
