THE 1872 Cup has often been a great leveller in recent seasons, with Edinburgh either raising their game or bringing Glasgow down to their level. On this occasion, however, there was no denying that the Warriors made their superiority count.

Gregor Townsend’s team did not hit the heights they had reached in their previous two games against Racing 92, and for that Edinburgh deserve some credit. On the other hand, the Warriors displayed their maturity by showing themselves able to adapt to altered circumstance: they were on the back foot for long stretches of both halves, but made far better use of the possession they had.

The result gives Glasgow a decent lead to take into the home leg of the Cup at the end of the season, and more significantly has brought a run of three league defeats to an end and taken them closer to the play-off places. They fell a try short of a winning bonus, but given the weather it was an excellent outcome nonetheless.

The rain had stopped by the time the match began, but the conditions were very slippery, and it took Glasgow barely a minute to profit from them. Alex Dunbar kicked low up the right, Blair Kinghorn slid in to collect but the ball skidded off his knee, and that mistake allowed Warriors winger Junior Bulumakau to touch down. Finn Russell missed the conversion, and five minutes later his former team-mate Duncan Weir opened the Edinburgh account with a penalty from the edge of the 22.

Midway through the half, the stand-off nudged the home team in front with another penalty after Glasgow loosehead Alex Allan failed to roll away from a ruck and was sinbinned for the offence. Edinburgh piled on the pressure for much of the 10 minutes in which they were a man up, but the Warriors defended superbly and did not go further behind.

Indeed, no sooner was Allan back on the field than Glasgow launched the attack that put them back in front. Russell kicked a penalty to touch within the 22, and the lineout drive just had the impetus needed to get over the line for Josh Strauss to finish off the move. Russell added the two points this time, and added three more with the last kick of the half to make it 6-15 after the Warriors had ploughed their way deep into Edinburgh territory.

After playing really poorly in the opening halves of their previous two matches, both against Stade Francais, Edinburgh had at least put in a serious effort in this first 40. But, while the likes of Hamish Watson and Chris Dean had enjoyed excellent breaks, the concern for the home team had to be the lack of points that their pressure had yielded. By contrast, Glasgow had played with greater economy and intelligence, qualities which meant they merited the half-time lead even if their minority share of possession might have suggested otherwise.

In the opening stages of the second half, Edinburgh’s efforts to get back on terms were too frantic, and they should have fallen further behind only to be reprieved by another penalty miss from Russell. Weir showed his rival how it should be done with a third successful kick after 52 minutes, but Russell then restored his team’s nine-point advantage after another penalty award just three minutes later, albeit in unusual circumstances. The Scotland playmaker had begun his run-up when the ball wobbled off the tee, and, with two defenders chasing him down, picked it up and drop-kicked it between the posts.

With 20 minutes to play, another Weir penalty was on target to make it a six-point game again. Edinburgh’s spirits lifted as they realised a recovery was still possible, and they had a couple of good breaks in which Damien Hoyland was prominent. Yet again, however, they failed to make their possession count, and Glasgow went on to register the decisive score with a dozen minutes left.

Phase after phase took the Warriors closer to the line, and pulled more defenders into the breakdown. Then came the crucial strike on the left, with second-row Brian Alainu’uese keeping the move alive and laying on the ball for Dunbar to touch down. Russell’s conversion made it 25-12.

Edinburgh had a couple of late chances to get the full score that would at least have given them a losing bonus point. But they failed to capitalise when Russell chipped a ball away inside his own 22, and they were denied at the death when the referee ruled that Bill Mata had been held up as he crossed beneath the posts.

Scorers: Edinburgh: Pens: Weir 4.

Glasgow: Tries: Bulumakau, Strauss, Dunbar. Cons: Russell 2. Pen: Russell. Drop goal: Russell.

Edinburgh: B Kinghorn; D Hoyland, C Dean, P Burleigh (G Bryce 73), T Brown; D Weir (J Tovey 68), S Hidalgo-Clyne (S Kennedy 68); A Dickinson (A Dell 33), R Ford (S McInally 68), S Berghan, B Toolis, G Gilchrist (F McKenzie 58), M Bradbury, H Watson, C du Preez (V Mata 59). Unused substitute: M McCallum.

Glasgow Warriors: S Hogg; J Bulumakau, M Bennett, A Dunbar, L Jones (S Lamont 59); F Russell, H Pyrgos (A Price 68); A Allan, F Brown (P MacArthur 56), Z Fagerson (S Puafisi 50), B Alainu’uese, J Gray, R Harley, S Favaro (C Fusaro 48), J Strauss (A Ashe 60). Unused substitutes: R Grant, N Grigg.

Referee: I Davies (Wales). Attendance: 21,036.