Edinburgh taking 'a lot of confidence' from recent history vs Glasgow

Franco Smith has challenged his Glasgow players to demonstrate further progress by securing the 1872 Cup with a rare away win over Edinburgh.

The sheen has been taken off Warriors’ past two 1872 Cup triumphs by the fact they have suffered frustrating second-leg defeats at Murrayfield, where they have won only once on their last 10 visits.

After beating Edinburgh 24-12 in the first leg at Hampden last weekend, Smith hopes they are able to enjoy retaining the cup with a victory in the capital on Saturday.

“We always want to play better,” said the South African, whose side have developed into a formidable force under his stewardship in recent seasons.

“In the last two years, we felt disappointed in the result in the second game.

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“The boys will be chomping at the bit to try and play well against a very determined Edinburgh.

“It’s an opportunity for us to continue growing our processes because that’s what’s going to be important.

“If we want to compete in Europe and keep on progressing in this tournament (the United Rugby Championship), we need to step up and progress.

“I’m excited to see the big challenge in front of a lot of people at Murrayfield to continue our process of growing and progressing.”

Smith has made six changes to his forward pack for the trip to Edinburgh because he wants “new energy for this game”, meaning he will have big-hitters like Zander Fagerson, Gregor Brown and Rory Darge to come off the bench.

With a crowd well in excess of 30,000 expected at the national stadium, Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt is optimistic about his team’s prospects of defeating Glasgow and giving themselves a chance of landing the 1872 Cup for the first time since the 2021-22 season.

“There’s an edge every time we play Glasgow, but we are excited about the opportunity we have this week to get a win at Murrayfield,” said Everitt, who has made three changes.

“The guys take a lot of confidence out of the fact that last year we were comprehensively beaten at Hampden and then managed to turn it around at Murrayfield.

“We’ve got 13 points to make up, which we know is a challenge, but the guys are certainly up for it.

“Last week our attack didn’t function well, but if we can put in the same fight and defensive effort that we did at Hampden, and be more accurate with ball in hand, we can turn over that deficit.”