The Glasgow Warriors booked a Friday night RaboDirect PRO12 semi-final against former champions Munster with a first half frenzy of scoring against a helpless Zebrre at Scotstoun on Saturday night.
The Warriors scored six tries before half-time in sweeping easily to the bonus point they needed to secure the home play-off, and although a deluge of rain affected their progress in the second half, they finished with eight scores in all while shutting the Italians off the scoreboard.
Eschewing any form of caution early on, Stuart Hogg’s scored after just 47 seconds and his second secured the bonus before he was saved for next week by going off at half-time.
The livewire Niko Matawalu also had a couple of scores, with skipper Al Kellock, Ryan Grant, Alex Dunbar and Geoff Cross chipping in with tries.
Glasgow end the regular season clear in second place in the PRO12 table. Edinburgh’s brave effort at the RDS in Dublin was not enough to give the Warriors the top seed in the play-offs, their narrow 15-13 defeat meaning the champions will have home field advantage if they reach the final.
A purposeful Warriors team took less than a minute to get the procession started, after Sean Lamont plucked a cross-kick from Duncan Weir and thundered forward through tackles.
The home team switched play effortlessly to the left and Pat MacArthur’s off-load sent Hogg at pace in from 30 metres for the score, Weir converting.
Within seven minutes the Warriors scored again, turning down a kick at goal to go for an attacking lineout and the outstanding Leone Nakarawa’s off-load served up an easy score for Grant.
The bonus point which secured the home semi required just another eight minutes, skipper Kellock falling over the line after Zebre’s maul defence disintegrated, and Hogg motoring in for his second after a series of slick off-loads from a super-confident home team.
Dunbar then scored from halfway all too easily, pushing off ineffective tackles, before Hogg was denied his hat-trick by his own team-mate.
The Warriors forced a turnover in their own 22 and the Scotland full-back raced clear to boot the ball ahead into the Italians’ in-goal area, but the only player who could beat him for pace was Matawalu, who raced in from the left for the touchdown.
Weir converted all but Dunbar’s score and the Warriors went to the dressing room having scored exactly a point a minute.
However the promised rainstorm had started just before the break and turned into a deluge as the second half began, turning Glasgow’s first half slickness into a slippery succession of fumbles.
That and a flurry of replacements disturbed the seamless route to the Zebre line, but eventually Cross got the nod as the Warriors went route one from a lineout drive, Weir converting his sixth of seven as his last act of the game.
The last act was a solo try from the irrepressible Matawalu, who carved through a tiny gap next to a ruck, wrong footed the last defender in the wet and scored under the posts, replacement Ruaridh Jackson completing the rout.
Att: 5950
Glasgow: S Hogg (P Murchie 40); S Lamont, A Dunbar, P Horne, N Matawalu; D Weir (R Jackson 67), H Pyrgos (L Jones 61); R Grant (J Yanuyanutawa 51), P MacArthur (D Hall 56), M Low (G Cross 56); T Swinson (R Harley 65), A Kellock (capt); J Eddie, C Fusaro (T Holmes 51), L Nakarawa.
Zebre: D Odiete; G Toniolatti, G Garcia, G Venditti, D Berryman; T Iannone, G Palazzani (D Ryan 37); S Perugini (M Aguero 40), D Giazzon (T D’Apice 40), D Christolo; Q Gledenhuys, M Bortolami (capt, G Biagi 46); M Bergamasco, A Van Schalkwyk (F Christiano 9), S Vunisa.
Ref: A Rolland (IRFU)