Kyle Steyn praised his forwards

Franco Smith's side laid down an early marker, opening the scoring with a penalty try after Zebre illegally halted a rolling maul as it was motoring towards their line. Zebre number eight David Odiase was shown a yellow card.

The Warriors' forward pack continued to impose themselves and Gregor Hiddleston crossed twice from well-executed lineout mauls to give the visitors a 21-7 advantage at the interval. Zebre's only reply in the opening half came courtesy of Franco Carrera, who finished off a rare attacking opportunity for the hosts.

Zebre made a quick start to the second period, and were rewarded when Giulio Bertaccini powered under the posts to reduce the deficit and inject fresh belief into the Italian outfit.

A scrappy second period saw both sides reduced to 14 men at various stages, but Glasgow crucially extended their lead when Adam Hastings returned from the sin-bin to finish smartly in the corner, securing the all-important bonus point.

Zebre refused to go quietly, with full-back Lorenzo Pani intercepting a pass from Hastings to cross and set up a tense finale. However, the Warriors showed enough composure and game management, to close out the contest and claim their eighth consecutive victory in all competitions.

Speaking after the game, Glasgow skipper Kyle Steyn told Premier Sports: "Yeah, tough match. I said to the boys that the backline owe the forwards a few beers for that one. We tried our hardest to make sure that Zebre had more chances, but credit to our forwards the way they just stuck at it - the mauls, the defence was awesome - that's what won us the game tonight."

Zebre conceded three yellow cards and there could have been more as they struggled to contain the Glasgow maul.

Steyn added: "Yeah, exactly. That's the way Zebre play - they want to go at the breakdown - so you know if you get your breakdown right then there is those opportunities, Yeah, we just can't let them back in the game like that."

Head coach Franco Smith told Premier Sports: "It's always excellent to win here.

"It wasn't pretty tonight, Zebre put up a big fight and never went away.

"Compliments to them and their coaching group. We put them under pressure in several areas of the game, but at the set-piece specifically."

Player-of-the-match George Horne said: "Yeah, it was obviously a little bit scrappy from both sides - not much of a spectacle - but really proud, especially of our big boys today. The set piece was first class and that got us the win there."