Du Plessis enjoyed every minute of Benetton bonus win

• 5 Jan 2020

​Glasgow Warriors kicked off the New Year in the best possible fashion yesterday afternoon, running in six tries to claim a 38-19 win over Benetton in Treviso.

A brace from George Horne and a sterling defensive shift spearheaded the Warriors effort, as Dave Rennie’s men made sure all five points would be coming home with them from northern Italy.

Petrus du Plessis, tighthead and scrum coach, made his season debut coming off the bench and playing 35 minutes for the men from Scotstoun.

“This is a much-needed win for the squad,” said the 38-year-old.

“People would have counted us out because a few of our big names weren’t playing, but we believed in our squad and we did the job.”

Flankers Tom Gordon and Bruce Flockhart both put in strong 80 minutes performances with the later making two-line breaks, one resulting in one of George Horne’s tries.

“I thought Bruce and Tom did a great job. Both were fantastic with ball in hand, physical and worked really hard. They put in huge shifts and took advantage of their chance to impress,” said the player/coach.

On his first game in 12 months the prop said: “I enjoyed every minute. It’s not hard for me to get up for games like this.

“I don’t have many left and this gave me a chance to gain respect from the players.

“Scrum is what I’m good at and in my first scrum we got the penalty which lifted the energy.

“I left it all out there today and I’ve got a nose to show for it.”

Petrus still sees room from improvement for next week’s clash against Exeter: “There were a few tries that we shouldn’t have let in. We’ll take a look and learn from them going into Exeter next weekend.

“We will take lots of positives from this but Exeter are a well-drilled side and we’ll need to step up again this weekend if we are to walk away with the win.”