URC: Glasgow claim hard-fought win at Benetton

Glasgow players celebrate after the game. Pic: Luca Sighinolfi

Glasgow Warriors were made to battle for their 19-9 win over Benetton at Stadio Monigo in the United Rugby Championship.

Hooker Johnny Matthews went over for his 11th try of the season and the Warriors also breached the Benetton defence through Stafford McDowell and Tom Jordan, with Ross Thompson and Duncan Weir adding conversions.

Full-back Jacob Umaga kicked three penalties for Benetton.

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.

Elsewhere, the Bulls kept themselves firmly in United Rugby Championship title contention by defeating fierce South African rivals the Stormers 40-22 at a sold-out Loftus Versfeld.

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.

Earlier, the Sharks' miserable United Rugby Championship campaign continued as they were beaten 40-10 by the Lions in Johannesburg.

The Lions ran in tries from scrum-half Sanele Nohamba, flanker JC Pretorius, full-back Quan Horn, prop Conraad van Vuuren, Erich Cronje and Hanru Sirgel, with fly-half Jordan Hendrikse kicking five conversions to maintain their play-off hopes.

The second half kicked off 30 minutes late due to a thunderstorm, and Sharks' hopes of staying in the contest were extinguished through a strong finish by their opponents that secured a bonus-point.

Wing Eduan Keyter touched down for the Sharks, while Siya Masuku kicked a penalty and conversion, but they have now lost 10 league games this season and remain bottom of the table.