Glasgow Warriors claim vital win at Benetton while Bulls thump Stormers at packed Loftus

Glasgow Warriors claimed a priceless 19-9 victory on the road at Benetton that keeps them very much in the race for top spot in the United Rugby Championship.

Crossings from Johnny Matthews, Stafford McDowall and Tom Jordan were added to by points off the tee from Ross Thompson and Duncan Weir on the day in Italy.

Benetton, who like the Warriors were depleted due to Six Nations commitments, could only tally three Jacob Umaga penalties as they suffer just a third URC defeat.

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Glasgow broke the deadlock with seven minutes on the clock as hooker Matthews collected a ball from the back of a short lineout and coasted unopposed over the line.

They went over for a second time five minutes before the break.

A neat kick over the top from scrum-half Jamie Dobie opened up the Benetton defence and Facundo Cordero hacked the ball forward for McDowall to touch down and Thompson sent over the conversion for a 12-0 lead.

Benetton finally got on the scoreboard four minutes after the restart when full-back Umaga converted a straight-forward penalty.

Benetton took confidence from that and a spell of continued pressure was rewarded with another Umaga penalty as they penned Glasgow in their own 22.

Glasgow prop Lucio Sordoni was fortunate to be only yellow carded after catching Thomas Gallo up high with his forearm in the loose.

Benetton turned down two kickable penalties with Sordoni off the pitch in favour of kicking to the corner but failed to take advantage of the 14-man Warriors.

But shortly after Sordoni returned Umaga elected for a shot at goal and kicked his third penalty off the afternoon to make it a three-point game with eight minutes remaining.

However, Glasgow immediately hit back to go over for the third time.

Again it was chipped kick forward from Dobie that was claimed by McDowell and he drew the defender before flipping wide for Jordan to cross for a simple try with Weir adding the simple conversion.

Bulls claim maximum over Stormers

Elsewhere, the Bulls won the North-South derby against the Stormers 40-22 at a packed Loftus Versfeld in a result that keeps them in touch with Glasgow and Leinster.

Hooker Johan Grobbelaar scored two tries, and there were also touchdowns for wing Canan Moodie and scrum-half Embrose Papier as the Bulls recorded an eighth league win from 11 starts this season in bonus-point fashion.

Fly-half Johan Goosen complemented those scores by kicking 20 points from four penalties and four conversions in Pretoria, with the Bulls repeatedly punishing Stormers’ poor discipline.

Wing Ben Loader, flanker Evan Roos and replacement hooker Andre-Hugo Venter crossed for the Stormers, while Manie Libbok booted a penalty and two conversions, but they were unable to threaten a Bulls team that always had control up-front.

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