Manjezi praises “great team effort” in Zebre victory

BKT United Rugby Championship Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma Italy 3/12/2022 Zebre Parma vs Glasgow Warriors Glasgow’s Sintu Manjezi tackled by Zebre’s Andrea Zambonin Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Luca Sighinolfi

Having been unsuccessful on the road since April’s victory over Newcastle Falcons in the EPCR Challenge Cup, a 45-17 win over Zebre Parma at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi saw the Warriors finally claim a first away win of the season – and indeed a first away victory of Franco Smith’s tenure.

“It’s good to get the monkey off our back, for sure,” Manjezi told glasgowwarriors.org following the full-time whistle.

“It’s a really good win from the boys – we had to work hard for that.

“The forwards came with a great amount of energy today and the backs finished it off, so it was a great team effort from us.

“In wet conditions, it was always going to be a forwards-dominated game. I thought we fronted up well today and showed what we can do as a group, especially in that second half. I also have to give credit to the backs as they really steered us around the park well today.

“We’re buzzing, really. Everyone is incredibly pleased to get that first away win of the season.”

A result built on the efforts of the collective, the match will also live long in Manjezi’s memory for a more personal reason; namely, his first try in Glasgow Warriors colours.

Having just seen his side go behind to a try from Zebre winger Pierre Bruno, the second-rower’s chargedown of Chris Cook’s kick came at an extremely opportune time for the men in black.

“For a moment I thought the ref was going to blow and tell me I was offside!” laughed Manjezi.

“I just wanted to get it down and see what happens, so when he raised his arm I was so buzzing. I don’t normally score that many, so I didn’t even have a celebration ready or anything!

“I’m just happy I was able to contribute to the win and to give my best for this team, though.”

With the BKT URC taking a back seat for the next fortnight, a visit to English Premiership side Bath is next on the agenda for the Warriors, as the EPCR Challenge Cup kicks off at The Rec next weekend.

Whilst a six-try victory is good preparation for the challenge of European competition, Manjezi knows that there’s still more to come from the Warriors.

“We know we have to back this up and not take our foot off the gas,” he said.

“We know we have to be clinical each time we have the ball and that was something that our leaders were really reinforcing throughout the game.

“Europe is going to be a different challenge, but our focus is going to remain the same. We want to keep this momentum that we’ve built from today and take that into next week.

“We know we still have a few things to fix and a few areas to sharpen up – our maul defence we know wasn’t up to standard today, and we need to stay on top of our discipline.

“If we can be that little bit sharper next week, then we know we’ll be putting ourselves in the best position possible to challenge for the result next week.”