Depleted Glasgow hit the gas late to hand Edinburgh 1872 Cup deficit
Injury-hit Glasgow produced a stirring finish against inter-city rivals Edinburgh to seize the initiative in the 1872 Cup and move to the top of the United Rugby Championship table with a hard-fought 22-10 victory at Scotstoun.
The visitors led 10-8 going into the closing quarter after Warriors wing Kyle Rowe and Edinburgh prop WP Nel exchanged first-half tries.
But Grant Gilchrist’s 65th-minute yellow card proved pivotal, paving the way for the hosts to draw clear and open up a 12-point first-leg lead through late scores from Johnny Matthews and Ally Miller.
Glasgow went into the derby depleted by the absence of several key men through injury, including Scotland internationals Matt Fagerson, Jack Dempsey, Jamie Dobie, Kyle Steyn and Ollie Smith, who is facing the prospect of a year on the sidelines with a knee injury.
Edinburgh coach Sean Everitt, by contrast, was able to name a strong line-up, which included Scotland scrum-half Ali Price as he returned to Scotstoun for the first time since making a surprise loan move along the M8 to Edinburgh last month.
Glasgow got the scoreboard ticking over in the seventh minute through a Ross Thompson penalty.
The hosts stretched their advantage with a superbly-worked try 10 minutes later as Rowe eased over on the left following a magnificent offload from Josh McKay. Thompson was wide with his conversion attempt.
Glasgow’s injury problems worsened just before the half-hour as Scotland hooker George Turner was forced off and replaced by Matthews, the URC’s top try-scorer.
Edinburgh got themselves back in the game in the 34th minute when veteran Nel pushed his way over from close range, with Ben Healy adding the extras.
Healy was off target with a penalty from the halfway line two minutes before the break but the stand-off made no mistake with his next attempt from a much shorter distance in the 47th minute, edging the visitors two points ahead.
But the game swung back in Glasgow’s favour in the 65th minute when Edinburgh lock Gilchrist was sin-binned following a series of fouls from his team.
Warriors took full advantage within two minutes as hooker Matthews notched his ninth try of the season with a trademark finish from the back of a maul. George Horne converted.
Miller all-but secured victory for the hosts in the 74th minute with a brilliant run in from the left after being fed by McKay and Horne again converted, ensuring Warriors take a 12-point lead to Murrayfield for the second leg of the 1872 Cup next Saturday.
Comments on RugbyPass
What a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
2 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
40 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
41 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
41 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
41 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
40 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
2 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to comments