Glasgow Warriors star stakes claim for Scotland Six Nations bow with standout display in win over Dragons

The 25-year-old has emerged from two years of injury torture to be a breatkhrough star for Warriors this season culminating in a maiden call-up to Gregor Townsend's squad for the Six Nations, although he remains uncapped after missing out on the opening matches against Italy and Ireland.

Mann scored one of his team's seven tries and impressed throughout with powerful ball carrying as Warriors made it seven wins from their last eight visits to Rodney Parade with a 45-20 victory.

Glasgow head coach Franco Smith feels his number eight is now knocking firmly on the Scotland door as he prepares to rejoin his international colleagues for a training camp in Spain this week ahead of the Calcutta Cup clash against England at Twickenham on Saturday.

"I think Jack wants to play in the Six Nations now," Smith told Premier Sports. "He's close, he's in the group, he's playing well. I think everybody in the team today had some individual motivation. He specifically stepped up for us at the right time and proved he can play at the next level."

Mann was one of five Glasgow players released from the Scotland squad for the URC fixture. Another, George Horne, registered two tries in an all-round display that is sure to have caught the eye of Townsend after missing out on the defeat to Ireland.

"He's a good player, we know it," Smith said of the scrum-half. "Between him and [Jamie] Dobie, and Ben White that's currently playing [for Scotland], it's hard to pick. Maybe it's horses for courses at the moment. It means a lot for us when he comes in and performs like this when he's in the mix for international selection as well."

Johnny Matthews, Nathan McBeth, Sebastian Cancelliere and Duncan Weir were the others to touch down for Glasgow, with Weir adding five conversions. James Benjamin and Shane Lewis-Hughes scored Dragons’ tries, with Lloyd Evans kicking two penalties and two conversions.

Dragons took a second-minute lead with a straightforward penalty from Evans and their dream start continued when Benjamin crashed over from close range.

It took until the second quarter for the visitors to respond, with Cancelliere dribbling a loose ball to near the hosts’ line where replacement hooker Matthews was on hand to score.

Evans kicked a second penalty but the Warriors were becoming the dominant force and were first rewarded with a try from Mann, who touched down following a succession of forward drives, before Horne quickly added a third.

Dragons then suffered a double blow with scrum-half Dane Blacker yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on, but his illegal intervention was not enough to prevent Glasgow collecting their bonus-point try from Weir.

Despite Blacker’s absence, Dragons were able to stay in contention with a close-range try from Lewis-Hughes leaving the home side trailing 24-20 at the interval.

Two minutes after the restart, however, McBeth extended Glasgow’s lead before Horne showed his class to race past a bemused defence for an excellent individual effort.

The outstanding Horne was then replaced before former Wales centre Scott Williams was introduced for a Dragons debut, but it made no difference as a late try from Cancelliere emphasised the Scottish team’s superiority.