| Edinburgh (3) 3 |
| Pen: Chamberlain |
| Glasgow (7) 15 |
| Tries: Brown, Tagive Con: Hastings Pen: Hastings |
Glasgow avenged last week’s defeat by Edinburgh by registering a derby win at Murrayfield, and a first victory for new head coach Danny Wilson.
In a match low in scoring and in quality, Fraser Brown’s first-half try ensured Glasgow led 7-3 at the break.
Ratu Tagive’s try after an hour was a rare moment of class and gave Warriors a cushion they would not relinquish.
Edinburgh now must recover before next weekend’s Pro14 semi-final against Ulster at Murrayfield.
On the face of it, this was one of those rare occasions when these old rivals were squaring off with nothing tangible on the line. But beneath the surface there was a number of reasons for players on both sides to front up.
Chief among them was the return of 700 fans to the stadium, Murrayfield the first rugby stadium in the UK to welcome supporters back after lockdown.
This was an opportunity for Edinburgh’s players to audition for a role in that showdown with Ulster, but it was Glasgow who struck first.
Captain Brown took just nine minutes to mark his 100th Warriors appearance in style. The Scotland hooker peeled off the back on a rolling maul and blasted through the tackles of Nathan Chamberlain and Hamish Watson to power over the line.
Watson almost responded for Edinburgh after a searing initial break from Duhan van der Merwe. However, as the flanker homed in on the try-line he was felled by a high tackle from Huw Jones, who was given another run-out in the unfamiliar full-back position. Jones went to the bin and Chamberlain, on his first start for Edinburgh, banged over the penalty to bring his side back within four.
There had been signs of rustiness from a six-month absence in last weekend’s fixture, but if anything this was even more error-prone. The set-piece on both sides was iffy, discipline at the breakdown was scarce and there was little zip in the back divisions.
Glasgow spent the final few minutes of the first half banging at the Edinburgh door, with George Horne belatedly bringing some spark at scrum-half. Brown was agonisingly close to adding a second try but lost control of the ball as he stretched for the line.
You wondered how that failure to extend the lead before the break would prey on the minds of the Warriors players, but the third quarter of the match was so scrappy that the try-lines of both sides were completely untroubled.
The game was crying out for some inspiration and it came from Ali Price. The Glasgow substitute scrum-half caught everyone on the hop with a quick-tap from his own 22 to take his side into Edinburgh territory. Brown burst through a gap and fed Stafford McDowall. Jones came into the line and slipped in Tagive at the corner for a terrific score.
Last week, Glasgow began to fade around the hour mark, but here they were increasing the tempo, Hastings knocking over a penalty to stretch the lead to 15-3.
And from there the match disappeared back down a rabbit-hole of sloppy play and referee’s whistles. For Glasgow, a satisfying if unspectacular way to round off an underwhelming campaign. Edinburgh’s season is bubbling up towards a thrilling finale. For it to continue onto a Pro14 final, they will have to be a lot better than this.
What they said
Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill: “Rubbish really, pretty average game full stop. It was a dead rubber, Glasgow picked a stronger team and we got a little bit outplayed and overpowered but proud of the lads for sticking in there.
“We’ve got a short turnaround this week [to the semi-final]. You never want to lose in that 80 minutes but you’ve got to realise where you’re team are at.
“Their [Glasgow’s] season’s finished, ours is very much still alive. We’ve got a semi-final and a quarter-final in Europe so it’s unusual for Edinburgh’s season to last longer than Glasgow’s so maybe it’s a sign of things to come.”
Glasgow Warriors head coach Danny Wilson: “It’s pleasing. To come here and get a win was important. To hold a team like Edinburgh to three points is a big step in the right direction. The one negative for us was still too many penalties. Derbies are sometimes about staying in the battle and we did that tonight.”
Edinburgh: Kinghorn, Graham, Johnstone, Dean, Van der Merwe, Chamberlain, Shiel; Schoeman, Willemse, Berghan, Haining, Hodgson, Bradbury, Watson, Mata.
Replacements: McInally, Sutherland, Nell, Sykes, Crosbie, Frostwick, Van der Walt, Gordon.
Glasgow Warriors: Jones, Seymour, Grigg, McDowall, Tagive, Hastings, G Horne; Kebble, Brown, Z Fagerson, Gray, Cummings, Wilson, Gordon, M Fagerson.
Replacements: Turner, Chapps, Pieretto, Harley, Fusaro, Price, P Horne, Nairn.
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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