EDINBURGH spoiled Gregor Townsend’s farewell party last night as they deservedly won in Glasgow for the first time since 2003, but it was the Warriors who retained the 1872 Cup with a 43-41 aggregate victory thanks to their win in the capital back on Boxing Day.
For all that both teams had talked up the importance of the silverware and the fierceness of the local rivalry, the match had a subdued end-of-season feel to it from first to last. Glasgow were perhaps affected by a feeling of anti-climax after failing to get into the PRO12 play-offs for the first time in six years, though Edinburgh deserve credit for having a superior, more determined defence.
The league points meant that the side from the capital, playing their last game for interim head coach Duncan Hodge, finished well clear of the bottom three in ninth in the PRO12 table. Glasgow, who already knew they had finished sixth, ended up 11 points out of the play-off places.
The result might just have been different had Finn Russell enjoyed a more accurate afternoon with the boot, but he was off target at critical times, while his opposite number and former team-mate Duncan Weir finished with a 100 per cent accuracy and 19 points.
Two successful penalties each from the two No 10s were the only notable action of a first quarter in which the Warriors, playing into a difficult wind, found it hard to make headway despite having considerably more possession. Ross Ford was yellow-carded for a high tackle on Ali Price with quarter of an hour to go before the break, but instead of taking advantage of the extra man, Glasgow lost their way for a time. Another Weir penalty eight minutes before the break put the 14 men ahead, but Edinburgh scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne joined Ford in the bin for killing the ball.
Although unable to make their brief two-man advantage count, the Warriors made the the breakthrough on the cusp of half-time when still a man up. The score was thanks in large part to an excellent offload from Scott Cummings, who put in his fellow-lock Jonny Gray for the first try of the game. Russell missed his conversion to make the half-time score 11-9, and within three minutes of the restart Weir edged the visitors ahead again.
Weir nudged over his fifth successful kick, and Edinburgh’s confidence grew even further when Damien Hoyland crossed for their first try. Weir’s conversion took the score to 11-22, putting Edinburgh just two points behind in the tie.
Stuart Hogg was short with a penalty attempt from inside his own half, and with 15 minutes left Tommy Seymour forced his way over, but a TV replay showed he had not touched the ball down. Before the frustration could mount, however, Glasgow claimed their second try when, from the back of a scrum, Russell put Hogg over. The stand-off converted, and then came the biggest cheer of the evening up to that point when Sean Lamont appeared off the bench for his final outing before retiring.
After the substitute had broken impressively from his own half, Edinburgh again offended, but Russell was off target with his penalty attempt. A score would have won it for Glasgow in the dying minutes, but they were penned back in their own half, and the last word went to Edinburgh, with full-back Glenn Bryce going over for a score which Weir converted.
Scorers: Glasgow: Tries: Gray, Hogg. Con: Russell. Pens: Russell 2.
Edinburgh: Tries: Hoyland, G Bryce. Cons: Weir 2. Pens: Weir 5.
Glasgow Warriors: S Hogg; T Seymour, A Dunbar, P Horne ( N Grigg 63), L Jones (S Lamont 67); F Russell, A Price (H Pyrgos 53); G Reid (A Allan 53), F Brown, Z Fagerson (S Puafisi), S Cummings, J Gray, R Harley (T Swinson 50), C Fusaro (A Ashe 63), M Fagerson. Unused substitute: P MacArthur.
Edinburgh: G Bryce; D Hoyland, C Dean, P Burleigh (J Rasolea 38), B Kinghorn; D Weir, S Hidalgo-Clyne (S Kennedy 70); A Dell (M McCallum 58), R Ford (N Cochrane 70), S Berghan, G Gilchrist (F McKenzie 67), B Toolis, J Ritchie, J Hardie (G Turner 60), C du Preez. Unused substitutes: K Bryce, R Scholes.
Referee: M Adamson. Attendance: 7351.
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