Rugby – Edinburgh v Glasgow, Guinness PRO14 and 1872 Cup

Edinburgh Rugby entered
‘Round 2’ of the 1872 Cup series, four points down on their
derby-match opponents, Glasgow Warriors. With PRO14 points at stake,
never mind Cup bragging rights, would the home side be able to claw
back their deficit and leave the final outcome bubbling away until
the decider in May?

The first five, or so,
minutes of the game were very much end-to-end, with Edinburgh pushing
the visitors back, the visitors clearing and play then returning to
the visitors’ end.

However, having
weathered the initial storm, Glasgow had first dibs at points through
the boot of Adam Hastings with a sixth-minute shot at goal. He missed
the kick with an uncharacteristically poor attempt, but the visitors
had shown their teeth.

Glasgow then turned the
match around for a period and put the hosts under increasing pressure
in their own half. Edinburgh, for their part, managed to keep play
outside their 22 with a strong, defensive performance.

A second Glasgow
penalty, around the 12 minute mark, was kicked to touch but they
could make nothing from the possession and Edinburgh cleared.

The first try of the
match followed another Glasgow attack, but a collision between two of
their players released the ball into the hands of Duhan van der Merwe
and the big winger needed no further invitation to launch himself up
field.

Crashing through a
couple of tackles, he was eventually brought to ground, but the
follow up play left the ball with Bill Mata and Edinburgh’s No. 8
then found Darcy Graham with an offload which left the wing with a
clear run in for the opening try.

Simon Hickey then added
the extras for 7-0 with as the match entered the second quarter.

Just over five minutes
later, it was all-square.

Glasgow turned up the
pressure from the restart and pressed the home side deep into their
22, keeping the ball moving and pulling the Edinburgh defence around
the pitch.

This strategy
eventually came to fruition when a 2-on-1 was opened up on the tight
flank and Huw Jones, being one of the two, neatly side-stepped his
way over the line to touch down under the posts. Hasting then slotted
the kick home to draw the side level at 7-7 with just under 15
minutes left to the break.

The remainder of the
half was fairly evenly matched with neither side able to make much in
the way of progress, so 7-7 it was at half time.

The second half
continued where the first had left off, but Edinburgh pulled ahead
through a successful Hickey penalty on 48 minutes for 10-7.

Glasgow then came
roaring back into the match with a well-worked push right up to the
Edinburgh try line. A home-side penalty decision was overturned
following a TMO consultation regarding a ‘no arms’ tackle and the
visitors kicked to the line.

Once again, Glasgow
pulled the Edinburgh defence from side to side, and, in the process,
opened up enough of a hole for Scott Cummings to break through and
crash over for the try. Hastings followed up with the conversion and
the visitors were ahead 10-14 after 54 minutes.

With the match now in
the balance, Edinburgh were looking on slightly shakey ground until,
near the hour mark, Matt Scott made a break through the centre and
looked to be in for a try.

He was dragged down a
few metres out by three defenders, but his momentum kept the ball
travelling forward and he appeared to have grounded against the foot
of the post. More bodies then piled in and dragged player and ball
over the line and, essentially, out of sight.

Another TMO decision
was called for and, again, it went against Edinburgh, but as the ball
was buried, there was no other decision that could be made. So…
‘Held up’ it was. ‘Scrum five’ the decision.

Having been on top all
match – except when ‘done’ for early pushes – the home-side pack
won the ball and Mata picked up from the base. He was stopped short,
but Henry Pyrgos – on for Nic Groom – grabbed the ball and dived
over for the try. Hickey then converted for 17-14 with just over 15
minutes left to play.

With 14 minutes left to
play, Glasgow’s George Horne re-took the lead for the away side.
Following in on a series of rucks from the pack, the scrum half
mirrored Pyrgos’ try of a few minute previous, picking up from the
rear of the ruck and going over in the corner. The kick was missed,
but Glasgow were back in the lead at 17-19.

A couple of minutes
later and it was back to the other end of the pitch. Kicking for the
line from a penalty, Jaco van der Walt put the hosts right on the
five-metre line for their line out.

Ball won, maul set up
and moving, Glasgow then managed to contrive an illegal pull down
right on the line which gave the referee no option, but to award a
penalty try – and seven points – to Edinburgh and award a yellow card
to Glasgow’s Jonny Gray.

With around 10 minutes
left on the clock and the score at 24-19, Edinburgh were now looking
to take advantage of the extra man and score a bonus-point try.

This they did with two
minutes left to play.

Glasgow didn’t remotely
lie down and they made it difficult for the hosts, but, as they were
approaching the home 22, Nico Matawala lost possession, the ball was
then gathered by van der Walt and whipped through the hands of,
first, Mata, then Scott, to Mark Bennett.

The centre made metres
through the defence, but, as he was closed down, Graham was lurking
on his outside. A well-timed pass left Graham in the clear, just over
half way, and he had ‘nothing else to do’ other than sprint the rest
of the way into to corner for the fourth, and bonus-point, try.

The kick went awry, but
it was 29-19 to Edinburgh to make it a six-point aggregate lead in
the 1872 Cup, but, more crucially, five match points towards securing
their place in the PRO14 play-offs at the end of the season. Job not
even nearly done….

Images from the match will appear here over the next few days