Niko Matawalu: Dave Rennie lauds Fijian as Glasgow thump Harlequins

Fijian international Niko Matawalu scored two tries for Glasgow against Harlequins

Dave Rennie praised the "special" performance of Niko Matawalu as Glasgow Warriors hammered Harlequins in their first pre-season friendly.

Man-of-the-match Matawalu, in his second spell at the club, scored the final two of Glasgow's eight tries in a 50-17 victory in Perth.

"It's not just the tries he scored," head coach Rennie told Warriors TV.

"The amount of times he got breaches and got in behind the defence with his work rate."

Paddy Kelly, Rory Hughes - making his return from a near-10-month injury absence - Matt Smith, Alex Allan, new signing Nick Frisby and Adam Ashe also crossed the whitewash.

With Scotland's summer tourists yet to return to match action, Rennie fielded numerous younger players against the English Premiership visitors, including Kelly, and was pleased with how they performed.

"We had a lot of young men out there who really put their hand up today," he said.

"The guys know we are going to pick on form and it's great they're putting pressure on the big boys.

"We've worked really hard on improving our skill-set and we saw evidence of that. We showed a bit more patience today which was good."

Warriors, beaten semi-finalists last year, begin their Pro14 campaign away to Connacht on 1 September.