Glasgow get the job done as Aramburu grabs brace

It may have been Guy Fawkes night everywhere else, but this Firhill match was more of a damp squib than a bundle of fireworks. Aironi have yet to win a Magners League match and the Italian side never looked like breaking that duck last night, despite the fact that the game pitted the bottom club against their nearest neighbours in the league. As the old joke has it, the Italians were lucky to come second in a two-horse race.

"It was just good to get five points on the night," said a relieved Sean Lineen after the match. "I've watched every one of Aironi's matches and this season and there isn't a decent one in there. They make it very hard for you to play against them.

"At least our four tries all came from the outside backs, but I felt that our game management at times was flawed. We kicked when we should have run and run the ball when we should have kicked it. It's wasn't part of the game plan! It's a learning experience for the half backs. And it was good to see big Al Kellock back in action, I thought he did well."

Glasgow scored their first try after just three minutes, but replacement full-back Peter Murchie didn't claim the bonus point score until the very last play of the match. Had Lineen's side played the full 80 minutes with the sort of intensity they reserve for the Edinburgh derby and exhibited a little more ambition the scoreline could have become properly embarrassing.

At one point in the second half, when presented with turnover ball and a five on two overlap on his own try line, fly-half Duncan Weir still opted to hoof it aimlessly downfield.

When the bufties were ushering the Italian sides into the Magners League this was the sort of one-sided, error-strewn, load of old cobblers that they hoped to avoid and Aironi must build on whatever crumbs of comfort they can find amongst the wreckage. When a Glasgow winger strips the ball from your six foot, six inch lock forward, as DTH van der Merwe managed last night, you know something is badly wrong.

There were plenty of positives for Glasgow who won going away at a canter. Dougie Hall looked full of running at hooker and Jon Welsh demolished the Italian's scrum on several occasions. Scrum-half Henry Pyrgos ensures the game is played a good lick and the pace of the game droped noticably when he was replaced in the second half.

Pyrgos also has a neat line in breaks which he brought out and showed off more than once. His clever grubber led to the five-yard scrum that gave Federico Aramburu his first of two tries as the tiny Argentine carried three Italians over the try line with him. In another instance it was Prygos's perfect timing allowed blindside winger Colin Shaw to break the line and it was good to see the sevens specialist back himself even if he was collared just short. If Pyrgos can tame his erratic service he will be one to watch.

Number eight Ryan Wilson showed up well in the loose, especially when taking the quick tap penalty to give Aramburu his second try of the evening. Callum Forrester also looked lively and might have done even better had the flanker not been seriously disorientated by an early blow to the head.

Only at the sidelines did the Italians compete on anything like even terms with Marco Bortolami showing that, while he may have aged a little, he hasn't lost his soft hands. The former Italian skipper blotted his copybook later on with a head-high tackle on Weir that merited a yellow card that never came. Al Kellock got little change out of the Italian veteran in his first game back after knee surgery but at least the Glasgow skipper came through his 48 minute shift unscathed.

Two tries from Argentinian centre Federico Aramburu and two penalties from Duncan Weir's boot gave Glasgow a 20-3 lead at the break and van der Merwe almost added to the total at the start of the second half while the fans were still muching their meat pies. Weir added his third penalty but the match was flatlining until Hefin O'Hare sparked into life.

It was from the replacement winger's midfield break that Glasgow set up camp in the Aironi red zone and eventually DTH van der Merwe squeezed into the left hand corner. Just when Glasgow should have been going for the jugular Aironi marched a maul over the Glasgow line and hooker Luigi Ferraro emerged from the mass of bodies to claim the try. There was still time for Glasgow to mount one last charge in which Murchie secured the bonus point which was the minimum requirement against this opposition.

Scorers: Glasgow: Tries: Aramburu (2), van der Merwe, Murchie. Cons: Weir (2). Pen: Weir (3). Aironi: Try: Ferraro. Pen: Mercier.

Glasgow: Stortoni (Murchie 67 min), Shaw (O'Hare 54 min), Aramburu, Dewey, van der Merwe; Weir, Prygos (Gregor 54 min); Welsh (Tkachuk 65 min), Hall (MacArthur 65 min), Kalman (Low 40 min), Ryder, Kellock (Muldowney 48 min), Harley, Forrester, Wilson (Fusaro 67 min).

Aironi: Laharrague, Venditti, Pavan (Rubini 53 min), Pizarro, Penny; Mercier (Benettin 62 min), Toniolatti (Canavosio 28 min); De Marchi (Aguero 45 min), Ferraro, Redolfini (De Marchi 45 min), Bortolami, Furno (Liebenberg 62 min) Erasmus, Benatti, Williams (Birchall 18 min).