Glasgow Warriors won another 1872 Cup contest with Stuart Hogg putting aside the controversy over his “hatred” of Edinburgh with the decisive try at Murrayfield.
The Scotland full-back, who had said last week in jest he “hated Edinburgh” comments then taken out of context in a Sunday newspaper leading to furious protests by Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend was also yellow-carded in a scrap with Edinburgh wing Tom Brown, but his try with 12 minutes left completed an unlikely comeback by his side.
Down 16-9 at half-time, Glasgow managed to survive being thoroughly dismantled in the scrummage and often in full retreat in the mauls throughout to hold Edinburgh scoreless in the second half.
Duncan Weir’s five penalties from five attempts kept his side in touch and Hogg’s pace to chase down a kick-through by DTH van de Merwe finally turned the tide.
Edinburgh’s pack failed to capitalise on dominance of possession in the second half and they missed a chance to finish off their rivals just before half-time when Jack Cuthbert dropped a pass near the line with two unmarked team-mates outside him.
Edinburgh coach Alan Solomons identified that and Glasgow’s try as “the small incidents on which derby matches turn”.
“If Jack had scored then it would have been very difficult for them to come back,” he said. “I’m disappointed because we thought we had the winning of that game, but credit to Glasgow, they fought hard, kicked their penalties and took their only try-scoring chance.”
Townsend said. “We were under pressure and Edinburgh work you over with phase after phase, but even with all the injuries our bench came on and made a real impact,” he said.
Bullied out of both games in the early going last year, Edinburgh made it plain they weren’t to be intimidated and carried the fight to Glasgow in a heated first half.
Three yellow cards were shown by referee Neil Paterson, one to Tyrone Holmes for a late take-out on Laidlaw before Brown and Hogg got 10 minutes each for getting in a tangle on the touchline that saw the Edinburgh wing end up over the advertising boards.
Edinburgh had a narrow advantage before the cards were shown thanks to an 18th minute try, and when Greig Tonks moved wide, Cuthbert had Dougie Fife on his inside shoulder for the off-load and try.
Three Weir penalties to one from Greig Laidlaw had kept Glasgow in touch, but a man down, their scrummage and defensive maul was lacerated by an Edinburgh pack smelling blood, and Laidlaw was able to boot two penalties to stretch his side’s lead.
Edinburgh should have had that second try on half-time when Cuthbert couldn’t hold Cornell du Preez’s sharp pass, as Glasgow lost Tommy Seymour and Pat MacArthur to injury to complete a miserable first 40 for the Warriors.
Matters got worse for the visitors almost immediately after the break with Seymour’s replacement Ruaridh Jackson helped from the field after a head knock, sending Ryan Wilson into the backline.
But the Warriors responded with their best attack of the game, Hogg involved twice at pace before Edinburgh scrambled away a Chris Cusiter high kick into the in-goal area, Weir landing an easy penalty for an earlier transgression.
Laidlaw missed a long penalty chance that gave Glasgow hope, and when Cuthbert spilled a high ball and a team-mate was offside retrieving it, Weir drew his team to within a point with a long penalty strike.
Edinburgh had two long spells of concerted attacking possession inside the Warriors 22 but got no reward, and the cup holders made them pay with the sucker-punch try with 12 minutes remaining.Weir stole possession from opposite number Tonks on half way and Glasgow attacked with purpose, Alex Dunbar’s neat run and van der Merwe’s kick ahead ideal for Hogg’s blistering pace to get to the touch down first.