GLASGOW chief Gregor Townsend labelled rookie Fraser Lyle as a star of the future in the wake of the 54-10 demolition job on Zebre.

Not only did the young centre bag one of the Warriors' eight tries on his debut, he produced an assured all-round display in Parma to help his side jump to the top of the Pro12 table.

Coach Townsend said: "Fraser has worked really hard since he joined us in November.

"I thought he defended really well and it was great to see him scoring on his first appearance.

"He played with confidence and it's good to see for the future.

"Skipper Al Kellock also carried hard and defended well and it was great to see such a good team performance on his 150th appearance for the club."

Townsend went on: "It was a very professional display.

"It was great to see the players fit in with the rugby we aspire to play and transfer the hard work they've done in training into what was a clinical performance at times.

"I thought the beginning and end of the game and either side of half time were very good in terms of execution."

Five tries in the first half helped Glasgow quash any hopes of a shock victory for strugglers Zebre.

The visitors took the lead after just three minutes when Peter Horne's quick tap caught the Zebre defence off guard. Horne converted his own try but Zebre closed the gap soon after through Luciano Orquera's penalty goal. DTH van der Merwe put Glasgow further in front when he scored an opportunistic try under the posts for Horne to convert.

But again they were pegged back by Zebre, for whom Filippo Cristiano charged down an attempted clearance kick to score.

That, though, was as good as it got for the Italian side. Horne added a second try on 38 minutes and on the stroke of half-time and Tim Swinson also went in under the posts.

Horne converted the second of the two tries to make it 33-10 at the end of an entertaining first half.

Niko Matawalu saw yellow for Glasgow early in the second half, but it counted for little as the Warriors added to their lead in the 65th minute when van der Merwe sent Fraser Lyle over for a debut try which Horne converted.

And the Warriors rounded off a fine afternoon's work when they smashed the 50 barrier with tries in the closing minutes from Peter Murchie and Will Bordill. Connor Braid converted both tries.