MORE WOE FOR THE WARRIORS

Wilson’s men lose discipline at vital time and blow win hopes

THRASHED 46-19 on their last visit to face Benetton in April, this had been billed as an occasion when Glasgow Warriors would be fuelled by a burning desire for revenge.

Instead, it became one of recrimination and regret. Not only did they fail to avenge that humiliating result, they conspired to throw this match away in utterly calamitous fashion.

Glasgow led 18-16 and had solid field position inside the Benetton 22 as the game entered its final couple of minutes. In other words, they had victory in the palm of their hands.

Failure to see it out from there was almost beyond comprehension. Any team with even the slightest sense of solid game management would win from a position of such strength.

But Glasgow shot themselves in the foot. Not once, not twice, but three times. Had the Benny Hill theme tune provided the soundtrack to their efforts over the closing few minutes, it would not have been out of place.

They conceded three scandalously cheap penalties in succession to allow Benetton to march them all the way back up the field and deep back into their own half.

That set the stage for 19-year-old Italian fly-half Leonardo Marin to show nerves of steel and drill a dramatic late penalty between the posts, with the clock deep into the red on 82 minutes.

There was a painful sense of irony. It had been Marin whose 85th-minute drop goal snatched the points in a 28-27 victory over Edinburgh in October.

Glasgow’s indiscipline had been appalling. It was amateur hour, schoolboy stuff. As head coach, Danny Wilson accepted the responsibility. But the players must also accept their share of the blame.

It had nothing to do with ‘learnings’ or a lack of experience. Glasgow had the likes of Richie Gray, Rob Harley, Sam Johnson and Duncan Weir on the field.

Captaining the side for the first time, Scotland centre Johnson had to bite his tongue during a post-match interview. Deeply unimpressed by what had unfolded, he kept it short and sweet.

‘How do I put it to keep it PG rated?’ pondered Johnson, with great plumes of smoke billowing from his ears. ‘I think a few boys, as a team and a collective, we’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror.’

Fans are beginning to lose patience with Wilson, mainly because Glasgow are making exactly the sort of mistakes as they were 12 months ago. Too often their rugby looks brainless and aimless.

Asked if his team ultimately got what they deserved, Wilson said: ‘I would say that is very fair.

‘As I’ve just said to the players, due to terrible discipline, we spent the whole of the second half inside our own 22. The amount of penalties we gave away to put ourselves in a position to lose that game is not good enough.

‘With a minute and a half to go, we manage to go from their try line and give away a penalty for a contact area infringement.

‘Then a penalty for a high tackle and a penalty for throwing ourselves across the line-out.

‘They are ridiculous penalties which have handed them the game. There are two types of penalty — there are dumb ones and ones when you take a gamble that doesn’t pay off.

‘It is the dumb penalties we need to stop giving away. So, we need to look back and say which ones were dumb and which ones weren’t.

‘The individuals need to learn lessons. And as coaches we have to ultimately take responsibility.’

Glasgow’s Ryan Wilson had been set to captain the Barbarians against Samoa at Twickenham yesterday, prior to the game being called off at the last minute due to a Covid outbreak.

In his absence, Johnson stepped up to skipper the Warriors for the first time — but they got off to the worst possible start.

With only 35 seconds on the clock, Benetton full-back Rhyno Smith caught a George Horne box-kick and unleashed a lethal counterattack. Glasgow’s defence was non-existent, with Rufus McLean in particular being caught out of position, and Smith ripped through to score in the corner.

The vistors’ response was swift, however, and No8 Jack Dempsey brought them back on level terms after eight minutes.

Ross Thompson slotted a penalty in 18 minutes to put Glasgow ahead, but Benetton scored their second try just a couple of minutes later.

It was scrappy and scruffy, a mess of bodies scattered across the turf following a line-out, before flanker and man-of-the-match Giovanni Pettinelli emerged to touch down.

Rory Darge re-established Glasgow’s lead just prior to half-time with a well-taken try, and

Thompson slotted the extras. Glasgow’s cause was helped early in the second half when Benetton flanker Michele Lamaro was sent to the sin bin, with Thompson then kicking another penalty to extend the Warriors’ lead to 18-13.

But indiscipline cost them in the end. Marin kicked a penalty just after the hour to bring the Italians within striking range at 18-16.

He let Glasgow off the hook by missing one, but he made no mistake with the final kick of the match to clinch victory.

SCORERS; Benetton — Tries: Smith, Pettinelli. Pens: Marin (3)

GLASGOW — Tries: Dempsey, Darge. Con: Thompson. Pens: Thompson (2).