Treviso 16-38 Glasgow

Glasgow travelled over to Treviso for the Italian side’s last home game of a Rabo season that finds them languishing at the bottom. The hosts also bade farewell to club stalwarts like Luke Maclean (Sale bound like Chris Cusiter) in front of a sizeable crowd for what promised to be a stern test for the Warriors’ playoff aspirations.

The first quarter of the game was largely unmemorable, with both sides not really settling in to any sort of rhythm. Consequently it was a period peppered by mistakes, whether a knock on or a pass that bounced beyond its man.

With George Clancy at the helm, unsurprisingly there were plenty of whistling and penalties for both sides. This week’s ten of choice for Glasgow was Finn Russell who kicked 3 from 4 in the first half and offered a lively threat in attack and is unafraid to shirk a tackle. Usefully though he actually has some technique to execute such a tackle…

Russell and Seymour were trying plenty in the midfield as mis-matches appeared up all over the park and one typically guddled ball from Treviso gave Seymour a pretty straightforward kick and chase to dive on for Glasgow’s first try that left him out of breath even as he was mobbed by the Glasgow bench.

HT Treviso 9-19

After half time the rain came on more heavily, which only increased chances of slippery fingers and more disjointed play.

Pete Horne disabused that notion almost immediately with a lovely spun pass out to the wing where Seymour showed that he has power as well as pace by managing to shunt three Treviso defenders over their own link and touch down for a try, with only little Stuart Hogg for company. Russell converted from out wide with a dink of the post and the lead looked comfortable for Glasgow.

Glasgow made it 3 minutes later with a typical winger’s try for, um, Gordon Reid who finished a length of the pitch move that saw some lovely rugby considering the conditions. Russell hit the post again but it was less forgiving. Glasgow were well in control on the scoreboard having put together a well judged and executed spell of pressure that paid big dividends.

Kicking all night may have suggested Treviso were a blunted instrument in the backs but their pack were still up for a rumble, and put together a series of powerful drives from line-outs that Clancy inevitably saw yellow for, sending Tyrone Holmes to the bin. Luckily Glasgow defended well and cleared their lines without conceding as the rain teemed down. The sin-binning meant thoughts of bonus points might have to be postponed as Treviso took some heart from their advantage.

As before though, no-one had told Tommy Seymour who capped a brilliant performance with his third and Glasgow’s fourth try. From the lineout Henry Pyrgos feinted to pass out wide then popped it to Seymour on the blind side who sprinted down the touchline, chipped his defender and regathered for what was probably the easiest of his tries. Russell may not have thanked him for another wide conversion but he slotted it anyway and might have edged man of the match had the winger not been so prevalent on the score sheet.

Glasgow had a strong bench but left most of the backs resting even as Treviso chased the game with some nice offloading phases. When that didn’t work there was the forward rumble and a bout of handbags to rely on. Spirited, and as Harley went to the bin for testing Clancy’s patience the visitor’s defence was tested further; but Glasgow had long since killed off the contest and put the win in the bag for their flight home.

SRBlog Man of the Match: Finn Russell had another good game and has got to tour this summer while up front Jonny gray and Josh Strauss mixed it up. Tommy Seymour was on fire though, blowing all the pre-match focus on the returning Stuart Hogg away with three tries and offering a constant threat in dismal conditions.