Glasgow Warriors refusing to look at league table in fluctuating URC campaign

Warriors briefly went top after being Benetton and Samuel wants team to push towards play-offs

Alex Samuel helped Glasgow Warriors record a win at Benetton.

Glasgow Warriors lock Alex Samuel believes there is little point at this stage of the season in dwelling too long on the URC table – and given the sudden changes in his team’s position over the weekend his attitude is wholly understandable.

The Warriors began the weekend in second place in the 16-team league, briefly went top on Saturday thanks to their 19-9 win at Benetton, but then fell to third later in the day when South Africa’s Bulls registered a bonus-point over the Stormers and Leinster regained the lead with victory at Cardiff.

Yet even though they ended the round of fixtures a place lower than they had begun it, this was still an important result for Franco Smith’s team. Benetton’s last defeat in the league at the Stadio di Monigo had been almost exactly a year ago, while Glasgow had not won in Treviso since 2020. And they had to dig deep to avoid losing again, as the home side fought back from a 12-0 half-time deficit to trail by only three points going into the final ten minutes, so Samuel rightly saw his team’s victory as an encouraging sign.

“We don’t look at the table too much,” the former Scotland Under-20 captain said. “But it was nice to go top, and hopefully we can keep building towards a big play-off push in the URC and Europe. We hadn’t won there since 2020, so it’s been a four-year gap for us. It was awesome, especially with a lot of internationals away.”

Two of the internationals who remained, Johnny Matthews and captain Stafford McDowall, both scored tries in a first half dominated by their side. Wet conditions meant the Warriors could not play their usual running game, but they adapted far better than Benetton, who were largely the agents of their own undoing by committing numerous unforced errors.

Ross Thompson’s conversion of McDowall’s try took the visitors to a 12-0 lead at half-time, but Benetton fought back after the break with three penalties from Jacob Umaga, while the sin-binning of Lucio Sordoni for an off-the-ball incident increased the pressure on the Scots side. But they held their nerve, and a late score from Tom Jordan, converted by Duncan Weir, secured the win.

“It was a tough pitch,” Samuel added. “It had rained for the previous three days there, so the ball was very wet. And it was very muddy, so we had to win the game in a different way, I think. I think when they closed to 12-9 it was just about going back to our process. We had talked about it all week - don’t really worry about what they’re bringing, it’s just about in defence getting in at the tackle and sticking in in attack. There wasn’t much attacking to do. It was about getting our kicking game right and then taking advantage when we got opportunities.”

After two rest weekends, the URC resumes on Friday 22nd, when Glasgow are at home to Cardiff. A win would return them to the top, this time for the best part of a day at least.