There cannot have been many more rewarding away days for Glasgow Warriors than the one enjoyed at the Stadio Lanfranchi in Parma yesterday.

Warriors were already worth a bonus-try point by the interval, eventually finishing their shift with six converted tries.

As an additional bonus, Munster’s 10-6 loss at the hands of Scarlets, promoted Dave Rennie’s team to the top step in Conference A of the Guinness PRO14, all in all a welcome return for all concerned.

And that isn’t even taking into account the performances of the Fagerson brothers, Zander and Matt, which would have earned a long-distance nod of approval from Scotland coach Gregor Townsend.

While there was nothing historically that Glasgow should have feared from conference basement side Zebre, having never lost any of their previous 13 encounters, you can never tell what might happen in these matches scheduled within the Six Nations window. If Zebre had hoped that Glasgow arrived under-strength, they were in for a painful reminder of what kind of talent pool the Scotstoun side have at their disposal.

Nevertheless, it was the Italian outfit who set the scoreboard moving after just five minutes, Carlo Cana accurate off the tee after Glasgow had been penalised for cutting at the lineout.

Warriors' response was almost immediate, Zebre making a mess of receiving the restart, allowing the Glasgow pack to swarm all over them and within a foot of the Italians' line through Zander Fagerson.

The resulting Zebre scrums were put into reverse and, on the third occasion and with the promise of a yellow card should the hosts collapse again, Matt Fagerson picked up and smashed his way over.

Adam Hastings, released back to club ranks from the Scotland set-up, landed the conversion for a 7-3 lead.

The Italians, showing seven changes from the side beaten in Belfast on their previous outing, showed a willingness to run at Glasgow, whenever and wherever the opportunity arose.

The Warriors' defence, though, despite being pulled from side to side, held firm eventually forcing Canna to kick possession away.

However, from absolutely nothing, Glasgow produced a second try. Zebre failed to support the hard-running Jimmy Tuivaiti. As he set the ball back in the tackle, the Zebre pack went in to clear the ruck, but left the ball unattended, enabling Chris Fusaro to pick up the free offering to charge 60 metres for the score.

Hastings kicked the additional points, via the post. They all count, though, and it was 14-3 to the visitors and, by the halfway mark in the first period, they were virtually out of sight.

Having given Warriors great field position with his Howitzer left boot a minute earlier, centre Stafford McDowall appeared on the other flank as Glasgow rolled off a lineout in a pre-planned move to batter his way over the line.

It appeared as if Glasgow were scoring at will and, after just 26 minutes, Rennie's men had secured a bonus point.

Off another lineout and driven maul, Hastings chip-kicked cross-field, the ball deflected into the path of Ruaridh Jackson, who rather fortunately managed to get the break of the ball off his own legs to gather and dive over – a terrific way to mark his 150th appearance in a Glasgow shirt.

Hastings made it four from four and, soon afterwards, took his 100% record to five out of five after Oli Kebble showed his ball-playing skills, passing inside to eventual man of the match Matt Fagerson on his right shoulder and the Glasgow No.8 bagged his brace.

The lights on the scoreboard showed a 35-3 advantage in Warriors' favour, a margin that would have been pleasing after 80 minutes, let alone half an hour.

Glasgow were dominant in every department. Even when they did find decent field position, the Zebre players found themselves peering into the night sky as McDowall launched his clearing kicks 50 metres behind enemy lines.

And when Zebre made a half-break, Adam Hastings and the mighty McDowall tore away possession in the tackle.

If things were bad for Zebre, they deteriorated rapidly within 60 seconds of the restart, Canna sin binned for a deliberate knock-on.

From a second penalty lineout, Tim Swinson was huckled over the line for try No.6, each one accompanied by a Hastings conversion.

Zebre were always going to have at least one moment in the match, and it came when skipper Tommaso Castello went over for the touchdown, Francois Brummer making the kick.

Fifteen minutes from time, Canna kicked out having been hit a tad late by replacement prop D’Arcy Rae.

Having liaised with the TMO, referee Andrew Brace adjudged the Italian to have over-reacted, an act worthy of a second yellow card, thus turning the caution to red.

Canna and Zebre's woeful day was complete.