Glasgow got back on track in the Guinness PRO14 with an eight-try, 50-0 rout of the Southern Kings and the returning young half-backs Adam Hastings and George Horne had a starring role.
The hapless Kings couldn’t have had a worse night with no points, two yellow cards and a serious injury, but the Warriors were right back to their Friday night best with the two Scotland returnees injecting pace and invention behind a dominant pack.
The pair didn’t score any of the eight tries – there were seven different scorers plus a penalty try – but they controlled the game superbly, especially for the first half-hour as Glasgow scored a point a minute.
Zander Fagerson was also a huge force on his return to Warrior duty while Kiran McDonald, a major contributor when the internationalists have been away at the World Cup, got the man of the match award.
A firework display nearby and a proper Glasgow smirr shrouded Scotstoun in smoke for the first 20 minutes, and the Kings were chasing ghosts until the fog cleared.
Hastings’ kicking from hand was pinpoint in the first half, and with the South Africans supplying plenty of penalties and errors, he was able to put his side in perfect position to take advantage.
After ten minutes Zander Fagerson went around the front of a five metre lineout and was held short, but Grant Stewart was there to wriggle over, Hastings unable to find the posts through the firework fog.
They opted not to kick a penalty straight in front in 17 minutes, and a trademark dart from George Horne from broken play opened the Kings’ defence, Matt Fagerson barreling over near the posts in support.
Skipper Callum Gibbins added the third try after the Kings defensive maul splintered all too easily, and the visitors’ frustration boiled over when captain Ruan Lerm was yellow carded for hitting a ruck with the shoulder, with Oli Kebble the victim.
However the big prop dusted himself down, took a pop pass from the attacking lineout that resulted from the offence and broke two poor tackles to rumble over from 15 metres out.
Even when Kings put together a promising move, it only resulted in another try at the other end, Hastings pinching a loose off-load and launching a counterattack with a wide pass to Niko Matawalu, who kicked ahead from his own half and re-gathered to score the fifth try.
The Kings’ desperate night continued when they opted to kick a penalty but Coyi Banda missed badly, and just as Lern returned to the field Sbura Sithole took his place in the sinbin for a senseless intentional knock on as Glasgow tried to attack again.
A long delay for a serious injury to Kings’ centre Erich Cronje just after half-time added to the visitors’ woes and shortly afterwards Huw Jones and DTH van der Merwe made inroads to their line, Zander Fagerson bullocking over for the sixth Warriors try.
By now the Kings were completely out of sorts and the Glasgow scrum drove them back to their line after successive penalty awards, leaving ref Joy Neville with no option but to award a penalty try.
And replacement wing Ratu Tagive added an easy eighth try from a long pass from Pete Horne, Hastings converting to bring up the half-century for a rampant Glasgow.
Att: 6789
Glasgow Warriors: G Bryce; N Matawalu, H Jones, P Horne, DTH van der Merwe; A Hastings, G Horne; O Kebble, G Stewart, Z Fagerson; T Swinson, K McDonald; R Harley, C Gibbins, M Fagerson.
Replacements: G Turner for Stewart 56, A Allan for Kebble 56, D Rae for Z Fagerson 66, A Davidson for McDonald 68, C Fusaro for Gibbins 56, J Dobie for G Horne 66, S McDowall for Matawalu 56, R Tagive for Bryce 56.
Southern Kings: C Banda; C Hollis, E Cronje, T Kruger, S Sithole; JT Jackson, J Allderman; J Schoeman, J du Toit, P Scholtz; B de Wee, A Fortuin; T Burger, T Bholi, R Lerm.
Replacements: A van Rooyen for Du Toit 45, X Vos for Schoeman 40, R de Klerk for Scholtz 42, J Sexton for de Wee 56, E Louw for Burger 48, G Mills for Allderman 75, S Masuku for Kruger 61, C van Breda for Cronje 42.
Ref: J Neville (IRFU).
