A disjointed, indisciplined 1872 Cup derby that saw five yellow cards finally sprung to life in the final 15 minutes with Glasgow left standing – only barely – for a narrow victory.
The Warriors scored two tries to Edinburgh’s sole counter in a frantic final quarter of an hour after the first 65 minutes was a dire slog dominated by the referee’s whistle and a flurry of yellows.
Tries by replacements Ali Price and George Turner turned the tide, separated by a Blair Kinghorn score as Edinburgh seemed likely to edge the contest.
The capital club will consider their three yellow cards to be marginal – especially that midway through the second half to captain Stuart McInally – and they had by far the better of the penalty count throughout.
But the Warriors seemed to want the win just that little bit more, scoring the first try and then managing to rally again after Edinburgh had taken the lead through Kinghorn’s try with seven minutes remaining.
At the end the visitors were camped on the Glasgow line looking for a winning score with 14 men, but it was fitting that Zander Fagerson, the game’s outstanding player, should force the turnover penalty to clinch the win.
Glasgow might have happy to escape the first-half level after a constant stream of penalties against them and a yellow card for Ruaridh Jackson, but were actually kicking themselves for missing the chance to go in at half-time ahead.
Adam Hastings’ sixth-minute penalty after a Pierre Schoeman pass went astray for Edinburgh gave the Warriors an early advantage, but they were on the defensive for much of the rest of the half.
The problems were almost entirely of their own making, a couple of poor lineouts handing easy possession to Edinburgh and some rank indiscipline at times resulting in ten penalties against them. Fagerson’s tenacity in winning two penalty awards at the scrum and forcing two turnovers with counter-rucking kept Edinburgh at bay.
Finally on 20 minutes Glasgow infringed within range for Simon Hickey levelled the scores, and the stand-off got another chance almost immediately after three successive penalties given away needlessly by Glasgow after the restart.
The third saw Jackson in the bin after he took out Darcy Graham when the Scotland wing got away down the right touchline and chipped ahead.
Even when Hickey hit the post with his penalty, Hamish Watson reacted first to regather the ball, Glasgow were penalised again and this time the stand-off made no mistake.
Fagerson’s second scrum penalty putting pressure on Schoeman allowed Hastings to make a long penalty right on the edge of his range, and Glasgow negotiated the rest of Jackson’s absence without further damage.
Right on half-time in a game that had produced absolutely no try-scoring opportunities, a half-break from Fraser Brown supported by Horne nearly broke through, and Bill Mata was yellow-carded in stopping the Warriors out wide.
Rather than kick the easy three points with the clock running over time, the Warriors chose to scrum and this time it was Edinburgh who got the penalty award and escaped to the dressing rooms level at 6-6.
Edinburgh survived Mata’s yellow card without incident, but started another ten minutes a man down almost immediately as Stuart McInally was adjudged to have led with the shoulder into a tackle on Brown, although it was a marginal call to say the least.
But no sooner had George Turner replaced Brown for the head knock than he chopped down Schoeman without using his arms and he became the fourth yellow of the evening, resulting in scrums having to go to uncontested for ten minutes and Hickey kicking Edinburgh ahead with the penalty.
Just as Turner’s sin-binning was ending Glasgow finally broke the try deadlock in fine style, after a strong series of phases got them into Edinburgh’s half.
Hastings’ deft chip over the defensive line found Huw Jones in space and the centre had replacement scrum-half Ali Price on his inside shoulder to score under the posts, Hastings converting.
However Edinburgh weren’t done yet, and attacked with purpose to find Kinghorn on the wide outside, the full-back brilliantly stepping away from tackler to get over the line, replacement Jaco van der Walt converting from touchline.
But in another amazing turnaround, Glasgow came charging back into the 22, Edinburgh substitute scrum-half Nic Groom became the fifth player to see a yellow card, and Glasgow mauled the lineout from the penalty over the line for Turner to score, Hastings converting.
Edinburgh had one last chance winning a penalty on the 22 and going to the corner in the hope of a lineout drive, but the tap wasn’t controlled and Darcy Graham was caught holding on by man of the match Fagerson as the Warriors held out.
Att: 7351
Glasgow: R Jackson; T Seymour, H Jones, S Johnson, K Steyn; A Hastings, G Horne; A Seiuli, F Brown, Z Fagerson; S Cummings, J Gray; R Harley, C Gibbins, R Wilson.
Replacements: G Turner for Brown 50, O Kebble for Seuili 67, A A Ashe for Harley 64, T Gordon for Gibbins 74, A Price for Horne 64, N Grigg for Jones 74, N Matawalu for Seymour 62.
Edinburgh: B Kinghorn; D Graham, M Bennett, G Taylor, D van der Merwe; S Hickey, H Pyrgos; P Schoeman, S McInally (capt), P Ceccarelli; G Gilchrist, B Toolis; M Bradbury, H Watson, V Mata.
Replacements: S Berghan for Ceccarelli 57, L Carmichael for Toolis 64, J Ritchie for Mata 60, N Groom for Pyrgos 44, J van der Walt for Hickey 62, J Johnstone for Taylor 72.
Ref: B Blain (SRU)
