Strong Bath outclass youthful Glasgow Warriors as Finn Russell pulls the strings

A full-strength Bath team were simply too strong for Glasgow Warriors at Old Anniesland as Franco Smith's side lost their second and final pre-season friendly 53-5 to the English heavyweights.

It was by no means a poor showing for the youthful home team, playing across the road from Scotstoun in this match, but the visitors never really had to move out of second gear to get the result. It was always going to be a significant challenge for a group made up largely of recent academy graduates against a team packed full of experienced internationalists - including Scotland star Finn Russell at 10.

Despite that, Warriors weren't daunted and started off on the front foot, with the visitors barely getting a touch in the opening ten minutes. Glasgow couldn't turn that territory into points, though, and the first chance that Russell got to stretch his legs he sent a chip kick over the top of Johnny Ventisei and the bounce fell perfectly for Santi Carreras to run on to and race over for the opening score.

Finn Russell pulls the strings as Bath outclass Glasgow Warriors in pre-season friendly

The entire first half followed a similar pattern with Warriors having lots of possession and territory plus a well functioning line-out, but they just couldn't convert that into points. Bath's line-speed was lightning quick and their defence snuffed out every half opportunity that came the hosts' way.

The visitors made far more with limited possession and added three more tries with Joe Cokanasiga and Bernard van der Linde getting in on the action and Carreras crossing for his second on the stroke of half time. The wind made kicking conditions tough for Russell, who only managed one of the four conversions for a score of 22-0 at the break.

The second half gradually saw a raft of changes for both sides and this gave Scotland centre Cam Redpath, who has been out of the international picture of late, a chance to shine. He managed to cross for two tries of his own either side of Van der Linde’s second as the visitors continued to rack up the points.

An eighth Bath try came on the 70th minute through Ollie Lawrence as the English side closed in on a half century of points. However, it was Glasgow who finally got a reward for all their hard work with two minutes to go and it was Alex Bryden who crossed in the corner to avoid the whitewash.

There was still time for the visitors to add one more try through Tom de Glanville and that sent them past the 50 point mark on the night. A final score of 53-5 to the away team brought proceedings to a close.

Ultimately, there were positives to take from the final results. Physically it wasn’t nearly as one sided as the final score line would suggest, but it was the quality of Bath’s defence and precision when in attack that was the difference.

Warriors stood up well to their far more experienced opponents and made them work hard for their points. They were realistically unlucky not to add more scores of their own but time and again they were cut off by a huge defensive effort.

Smith’s side now go full steam ahead to their 2026/27 URC opener next Saturday as they travel to Thomond Park, where Munster await. As for Russell and Bath, they begin their Prem campaign against Harlequins at Twickenham Stoop next Friday night.

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