Gregor Hiddleston and Kyle Steyn both scored a brace as Glasgow moved top of the United Rugby Championship with a bonus-point 40-9 win at Zebre Parma.
Jamie Dobie and George Horne also crossed for the Warriors, and fly-half Ross Thompson converted five of the six tries while the Italians could only muster three Thomas Dominguez penalties at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi.
It was a sixth win out of six in 2024 for Franco Smith’s men to keep the pressure on Leinster with a ruthless display.
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The opening stages was a battle of attrition, with Zebre enjoying the bulk of possession but the Warriors held firm and all the home side had to show for their territorial advantage was a pair of penalties from Dominguez.
Glasgow finally broke through for the first try of the given with 30 minutes on the clock.
After knocking on the door at the Zebre line the pressure told on the Italians who conceded a penalty which the Warriors kicked into the corner. From the resulting line-out the rolling maul went to work with hooker Hiddleston peeling off the back to crash over and Thompson added the extras.
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The Warriors repeated the trick with the clock in the red as a kick to the corner saw another clean line-out win, and the maul then pushed the Zebre pack back, allowing Hiddleston at the base to drop down over the line for a simple score and a 14-6 half-time lead.
Another Dominguez penalty got Zebre back to within a score as they started the second half on the front foot.
But Glasgow were always the most dangerous side, and captain Steyn ran in the third try as he stepped inside a would-be tackler to score under the posts.
The bonus point was secured with 12 minutes remaining as a quick ball down the line from a scrum found Steyn in space on the left wing, and the Scotland international slid in for the score.
Dobie and Horne then put the icing on the cake with simple scores as a throwing Zebre defense was exposed in a comprehensive URC victory.
The teams
Zebra: 15 Lorenzo Pani, 14 Jacopo Trulla, 13 Franco Smith Jr, 12 Enrico Lucchin, 11 Scott Gregory, 10 Geronimo Prisciantelli (c), 9 Thomas Dominguez, 8 Giacomo Ferrari, 7 Iacopo Bianchi, 6 Guido Volpi, 5 Dylan de Leeuw, 4 Leonard Krumov, 3 Muhamed Hasa, 2 Marco Manfredi, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Giampietro Ribaldi, 17 Samuele Taddei, 18 Juan Pitinari, 19 Matteo Canali, 20 David Sisi, 21 Ratko Jelic, 22 Fetuli Paea, 23 Taina Fox-Matamua
Glasgow: 15 Josh McKay, 14 Kyle Steyn (c), 13 Stafford McDowall, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Kyle Rowe, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Jamie Dobie, 8 Henco Venter, 7 Thomas Gordon, 6 Ally Miller, 5 Max Williamson, 4 Sintu Manjezi , 3 Lucio Sordoni, 2 Gregor Hiddleston, 1 Allan Dell
Replacements: 16 Grant Stewart, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Euan Ferrie, 21 Gregor Brown, 22 George Horne, 23 Tom Jordan
Referee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)
Assistant Referees: Filipo Russo (FIR), Manuel Bottino (FIR)
TMO: Colin Stanley (IRFU)
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