GLASGOW Warriors’ second string made light work of Zebre last night, running in seven tries for their simplest five points of the season. The Italians had won their last two games in PRO12, but had no answer to the onslaught from the home side, who had the bonus point in the bag by half-time. Given the Warriors’ hopes of a play-off place had ended a week earlier, it was a commendably committed display, albeit in a match far too one-sided to pass for high-quality entertainment.

“I was really pleased the team got into the flow of how we know they can play straight away,” Gregor Townsend said. “I was pleased with us getting those tries in the first half - to get four tries gave us a lot of breathing space.”

After heavy pressure which saw two visiting players taken off injured, Nick Grigg gave Glasgow the lead with an 11th-minute try, spinning out of a tackle to roll over the line for a score which Peter Horne converted. Full-back Peter Murchie got the second full score midway through the half, coming into the line to slice through a defence that had run out of numbers.

Even by that point the only question was the winning margin rather than the outcome, with Zebre’s pack looking hopelessly outpowered at both the set scrum and the driving maul. Some of the Warriors’ fringe players were displaying a voracious appetite for action, and it was not long before the third try was run in.

Rob Harley was the scorer after a tap penalty had quickly gone wide, but the real creator of the score was Sam Johnson, whose 60-metre break had been stopped illegally.

Less than two minutes later the bonus point was in the bag. The Warriors took possession from the restart, Henry Pyrgos fed Chris Fusaro, and the No 7 fed his fellow back-row forward Matt Fagerson for a straightforward run-in. It was the 18-year-old’s first try for the team on his second start.

When the result is beyond doubt by half-time, there is always a danger that the sting will go out of a match, but to their credit Zebre came out with far more of a spring in their step. They were deep in Warriors territory for the best part of 10 minutes at the start of the second half, but failed to break down a resolute defence.

Townsend made a triple change with half an hour to go in a bid to get his team back on the front foot, the most significant introduction being that of Brian Alainu’uese, the lock whose uncompromising style has made him a cult hero at Scotstoun. Sure enough, play was soon down the other end of the field, but when Rory Hughes touched down for what he thought was try No 5, the score was chalked off for a fairly blatant block by Alainu’uese himself.

Just before the hour, Johnson did get the fifth, collecting the scoring pass from Fusaro then clambering back to his feet after a half-hearted tackle. Another raft of replacements saw Peter Horne replaced by younger brother George, and within a minute Matt Smith scored the sixth try - the first not to be converted - following a lineout.

Kayle van Zyl opened Zebre’s account with quarter of an hour to go, Smith hit back with his second 10 minutes later, and finally Kurt Baker put his team into double figures.

Scorers: Glasgow: Tries: Grigg, Murchie, Harley, Fagerson, Johnson, Smith 2. Cons: P Horne 5.

Zebre: Tries: Van Zyl, Baker.

Glasgow: P Murchie (S Lamont 62); L Sarto, N Grigg, S Johnson, R Hughes; P Horne (G Horne 63), H Pyrgos; A Allan (J Bhatti 49), P MacArthur (C Fenton 62), D Rae (S Puafisi 49), G Peterson (B Alainu’uese 49), S Cummings, R Harley, C Fusaro (L Wynne 62), M Fagerson (M Smith 62).

Zebre: G Palazzani; K van Zyl (K Baker 68), G Bisegni, T Castello, M Bellini; S Bordoli (M Pratichetti 33), C Engelbrecht (M Violi 5); B Postiglioni (A de Marchi 62), O Fabiani, G Roan (P Ceccarelli 41), G Koegelenberg, V Bernabo (D Minnie 8), M Mbanda (S Tobias 62), J Meyer, F Ruzza (J Sarto 62).

Referee: D Wilkinson (Ireland). Attendance: 7351.