Classic! Edinburgh level up 1872 Cup series in front of record attendance
Darcy Graham scored a sensational double as Edinburgh triumphed 29-19 in a Murrayfield thriller to square up their 1872 Cup series at one win apiece with Glasgow.
Richard Cockerill had warned his team that pride was at stake after seeing them lose last week’s opener 20-16.
But his players stood up to the challenge as they claimed victory after Graham’s brace bookended Henry Pyrgos’ score and a late penalty try. There were also two conversions and a penalty for Simon Hickey.
The rollercoaster clash in front of 27,437 fans saw Glasgow score three times themselves as Huw Jones, Scott Cummings and George Horne all crossed over and Adam Hastings kicked two conversions.
That was not enough for Dave Rennie’s team but they will have the chance to snatch back the trophy when they return to the capital for May’s series decider.
Last week’s Scotstoun affair was a dreary grind but game two saw the shackles come off in spectacular fashion.
It took 18 minutes for the opening points to arrive but they were worth the wait.
Duhan Van Der Merwe’s storming 50-yard break had Glasgow scrambling for cover. Before Rennie’s team could get themselves straightened out, Bill Mata popped a beauty of an offload out of the backdoor for Graham who scampered over.
Glasgow stepped up their intensity levels in response and hit back seven minutes later. The forwards were sent crashing forward and having beaten up the Edinburgh defence sufficiently, they left it to the backs to finish off, with Ruaridh Jackson holding his pass until the perfect moment to release Jones, who stepped past Nic Groom on his way in to score.
Scotland team-mates Cummings and Jamie Ritchie had to be separated as things got heated just after the break.
Big Bill Mata with a Christmas contender for offload of the @PRO14Official season during a thriller in the #1872Cup pic.twitter.com/V19mTMh1kU
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 28, 2019
When tempers had calmed sufficiently Hickey slotted over a penalty to nudge Edinburgh back in front again but Glasgow hit back after 53 minutes.
Edinburgh thought they had survived Hastings’ drive as Pierre Schoeman turned the ball over. But Ritchie’s no-arm tackle on Callum Gibbins gave Warriors a penalty which they booted to the corner.
The forwards’ grunt work proved too much to resist once more, with Cummings barging past fellow Scotland lock Grant Gilchrist to score.
Edinburgh saw what would have been a sensational Matt Scott try ruled out after he was ruled to have been held up.
The celebrations were only momentarily delayed, however, as from the resulting scrum after 62 minutes Mata drove Glasgow back and Pyrgos spotted the little gap he needed to touch down.
It was back and forth stuff by this point and the Glasgow pack again regained the initiative as Edinburgh were driven to their own line.
The 17-cap All Black fullback was evicted from the MCG on day three of the Black Caps’ test against Australia. https://t.co/EOFc22oCTd
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 28, 2019
Graham found himself trying to hold off both Zander Fagerson and Horne, but was overpowered as the scrum-half got the try.
Edinburgh’s pack had been itching to show what they could do and got their chance with seven minutes left, driving over a line-out that secured both a penalty try and a yellow card for Jonny Gray after the giant lock had dragged the maul down in a vain attempt to keep the hosts at bay.
There was still time for one last moment to remember as Graham sped 40 yards down the line in the final minute to cap off an impressive Edinburgh victory.
Comments on RugbyPass
Bulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to commentsThis is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?
35 Go to commentsWow, didn’t realise there was such apathy to URC in SA, or by Champions Cup teams. Just read Nick’s article on Crusaders, are Sharks a similar circumstance? I think SA rugby has been far more balanced than NZs, no?
4 Go to comments