Glasgow29 - 6 Aironi: Glasgow cruise to victory but miss out on vital bonus

Aironi6

Referee: D Phillips

Attendance: 4,110

Aironi, and their voluble pocket of fans, came to Glasgow hoping to tap into some of the triumphant spirit from Italy’s Six Nations win in Rome and claim a first away victory in the competition, but this was a clash of two sides missing virtually all of their internationalists so there was to be no hangover.

A good Glasgow crowd of more than 4000 trooped into Firhill after a month’s wait for a home match and they made very clear their support of Sean Lineen, who the SRU has decided to move to a new role at Murrayfield this summer.

Duncan Weir had Glasgow 6-0 up in the early stages, as the home side built the phases and their slick attacking stretched the Aironi defence across their 22, but they had to wait for a try. The young fly-half, taking the ball to the line very well, and the punishment that comes with such courage, sparked a great attack on the right and good hands almost put Tommy Seymour into the right-hand corner. The winger was held up a metre out, and then Ryan Grant was held up on the line from a subsequent charge, but the good work had pulled Aironi in tight and Irish referee Dudley Phillips should have awarded a penalty try when a Chris Fusaro looping pass to expose an overlap was cynically knocked away by a defender. Phillips was playing advantage for an earlier penalty and so Weir took what was on offer.

There was a terrific dynamism about Glasgow, with No 8 Ryan Wilson leading well of the back off the scrum, Henry Pyrgos, the scrum-half later voted man of the match, whipping up momentum with slick passing and only formidable Italian defence kept the Warriors at bay as the game moved into the second quarter.

But another fine Glasgow scrum demolished the Aironi pack and Weir clinically converted the resultant penalty from the left-hand side for a 9-0 lead. Aironi responded swiftly with a penalty from Luciano Orquera, the fly-half who had set up the chance with a neat chip over the home defence, and, unsurprisingly, the 34-year-old Italy prop Salvatore Perugini was pressed into battle before the half-hour to shore up the scrum.

It had all being going well up to this point for the Warriors, but when they were penalised inside the Aironi half and a bit of back-chat from Weir moved the award into Glasgow’s half, Orquera converted superbly again and a nervousness emanated from the fact that Glasgow had failed to turn a surfeit of possession into more than a three-point lead with only seven minutes left of the first half.

And then they put it together with a scintillating score. A good scrum provided the platform inside the Aironi 22, slick passing by Pyrgos pushed the defence across the pitch and wing Seymour came onto the ball at terrific pace and a fine angle to arc left through the space and then right round the last defender for a great score.

Weir’s conversion sent Glasgow into a 16-6 half-time lead but only after a Weir clearance was charged down by Orquera and the bounce of the ball denied the Italian cap a run-in for a try. Weir then stretched the advantage to 13 points minutes after the break and though Aironi introduced Six Nations players Josh Furno and Simone Favaro Glasgow soaked up the Italian’s first real bit of pressure without their line being tested.

The Warriors shunned a kickable penalty and lost possession at the lineout, but then strived to lift the tempo. Maura Bergamasco was fortunate to stay on the field after taking out Seymour, the veteran Italy flanker receiving a warning, but the home pack took their revenge with a terrific 15-metre drive to the Aironi line and Fusaro capped a superb performance with the second try, and his first for the club.

Kiwi lock Rob Verbakel thought he had scored in the 66th minute, after another good run by Fusaro off a lineout, the crossing that created the gap was spotted by referee Phillips.

Johnnie Beattie brought fresh impetus to the forwards and Scott Wight new direction to the back line, and after kicking a penalty to touch they attacked across the 22, and when ball came back superb pace and timing of the pass from Lemi put Peter Murchie in for the third try with seven minutes left.

Glasgow were forced to work hard to regain ball after that and then had their supporters on their feet for the final minute with Lemi, Fusaro and Troy Nathan leading charges at the Aironi line, but it was too little too late and the Italians held firm to ensure there would be no icing on the Warriors’ cake.

Scorers: Glasgow: Tries: Seymour, Fusaro, Murchie. Pens: Weir (4). Con: Weir. Aironi:Pens: Orquera (2).

Glasgow: P Murchie; T Seymour, A Dunbar, F Aramburu, D Lemi; D Weir, H Pyrgos; R Grant, D Hall (capt), M Cusack, N Campbell, T Ryder, C Forrester, C Fusaro, R Wilson. Subs: R Verbakel for Campbell 40mins, M Low for Cusack 52, P MacArthur for Hall, J Beattie for Forrester, both 61mins, S Wight for Weir, T Nathan for Arambaru, both 62, G Reid for Grant 68, M McConnell for Pyrgos 74.

Aironi: T Tebaldi; G Toniolatti, R Quartaroli, M Pratichetti, S Sinoti; L Orquera, T Keats; A D Marchi, F Ongaro, L Romano, G Biagi, C Del Fava (capt), N Cattina, M Bergamasco, F Ferrarini. Subs: S Perugini for Romano 27mins, A Denti for Ongaro, J Furno for Biagi, S Favaro for Ferrarini, all 50mins, M Aguero for De Marchi 55, N Olivier for Keats 61, A Benettin for Tebaldi 67.