Edinburgh hold a 12-point lead on aggregate going into the second leg of the 1872 Cup, after an excellent 23 / 11 home win over rival Glasgow Warriors, in front of a record crowd of 23 642 at BT Murrayfield.
The win not only gives Edinburgh the advantage going into next week’s second-leg encounter at Scotstoun, but also sees them leapfrog the Warriors in the Guinness PRO12 table.
2 Tries from centre Matt Scott and back-row John Hardie, were bolstered by the sterling boot of Sam Hidalgo-Clyne who notched up 16 points from the tee to contribute to Edinburgh’s 26-points tally.
Despite opening the scoring through a Mark Bennett try, Edinburgh snatched Glasgow’s lead in the 12th minute with Hidalgo-Clyne’s conversion to Scott’s try, and retained it for the remaining 68 minutes of the game.
There was one late change to the sides prior to proceedings as Glasgow captain and lock Jonny Gray pulled out through injury. Centre Peter Horne took on skippering duties, with Tim Swinson gaining promotion from the bench and USA Eagles internationalist Greg Peterson being named as a substitute.
Glasgow opened the scoring in the 6th minute, when Finn Russell exposed Edinburgh’s lack of numbers in defence to find Mark Bennett, who used his pace to finish off the move for the score – the former failed with the conversion attempt.
Edinburgh replied just 6 minutes later with a well-worked team try, Cornell Du Preez proving the attacking catalyst. The back-row made a great break down the touchline, before bumping off Russell and throwing a stellar offload to find the ever-present Matt Scott for the score.
Sam Hidalgo-Clyne struck the ball perfectly to successfully convert from the touchline and give his side a 7 / 5 lead.
An Edinburgh infringement in the ruck on 26 minutes gave the visitors a chance to regain the lead, yet Bennett failed to hit the target with a long-range effort.
However, on the contrary, Edinburgh’s Hidalgo-Clyne made no mistake with the boot 4 minutes later when he extended the Black and Reds lead with a penalty from directly in-front of the uprights (10 / 5).
Halftime: Edinburgh 10 / 5 Glasgow Warriors
The second half started with a bang, with opposing fullbacks Jack Cuthbert and Stuart Hogg both making good inroads in the opening minutes yet neither to any avail.
Russell and Hidalgo-Clyne exchanged points with the boot in the next quarter, slotting 2 successful penalties a piece, to take the score to 16 / 11 at the 60 minute mark.
Man-of-the-match John Hardie, ended a lull in scoreboard activity when an outstanding lineout drive provided the platform for the blindside flanker to cross the whitewash. Hidalgo-Clyne added to his personal tally with his second successful conversion with 10 minutes left on the clock, to take the score to 23 / 11 in favour of the home side.
It looked as though Glasgow would close the gap with only minutes left on the clock yet the tenacious Tom Brown put in a monumental hit on his opposite man Taqele Naiyarovoro, ensuring the 12-point margin was intact going into the second leg of the 1872 Cup.
Final Score: Edinburgh (10) 23 / 11 (5) Glasgow Warriors
Teams:
Edinburgh: Jack Cuthbert, Dougie Fife, Michael Allen, Matt Scott, Tom Brown, Phil Burleigh, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Rory Sutherland, Ross Ford, WP Nel, Anton Bresler, Alex Toolis, Mike Coman CAPTAIN, John Hardie, Cornell du Preez.
Replacements: Neil Cochrane (for Ford 66’), Allan Dell, John Andress, Ben Toolis (for A Toolis 59’), Jamie Ritchie, Sean Kennedy (for Hidalgo-Clyne 70’), Greig Tonks and Andries Strauss.
Glasgow Warriors: Stuart Hogg, Taqele Naiyarovoro, Mark Bennett, Peter Horne, Tommy Seymour, Finn Russell, Grayson Hart, Ryan Grant, Fraser Brown, Sila Puafisi, Leone Nakarawa, Tim Swinson, Ryan Wilson, Chris Fusaro, Adam Ashe.
Replacements: James Malcolm (for Brown 73’), Gordon Reid (for Grant 56’), Zander Fagerson (for Puafisi 62’), Greg Peterson (for Swinson 62’), Simone Favaro (for Fusaro 62’), Ali Price (for Hart 56’), Sam Johnson (for Horne 67’) and Lee Jones.
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