SUDDENLY, the 1872 Cup has stopped looking like quite the formality it has appeared for much of the season. Regarded by many as a golden opportunity for Glasgow Warriors to grab a bonus-point win if they still needed one, this last game of the regular season is now a bit more evenly balanced after Friday night’s results.

Glasgow will still be favourites for Saturday’s encounter at Scotstoun, but their 31-30 defeat by Leinster finally ended their hopes of a PRO12 play-off place. No need now for that bonus point: they are sixth going into the match, and win, lose or draw that is where they will stay.

Edinburgh, who are ninth and likely to remain there, are still the underdogs. But their inspired fightback against the Dragons at Myreside, where they came from 20-3 down with eight minutes left to win 24-20, was a reminder of how well they can play when they put their minds to it. After nine defeats in a row, such a performance was long overdue, and by no means makes them world-beaters. But, in their last outing before Duncan Hodge steps down as interim head coach, they will go into the game in a far more positive frame of mind than looked possible a couple of weeks ago.

Hodge will still be around next season, of course, as assistant to new head coach Richard Cockerill. For Gregor Townsend, by contrast, this is a clean break and a real farewell: an end to five successful years with the Warriors before he moves east to take charge of Scotland.

The 1872 Cup always sees a number of head-to-head contests between rivals for places in the national team, but the competition will be even sharper than usual this time with the new Scotland coach looking on. Townsend, who is set to announce his squad for the summer tour after the match, would have loved the game to be still relevant in terms of the PRO12, but believes it should nonetheless be a keenly contested end to the campaign.

“The disappointing thing is that we came into the last couple of games this season knowing that we had a slim chance of making it through,” he said after the loss to Leinster in Dublin. “The last few years we’ve been in the top four places and we’ve been looking for home semi-finals.

“But on the other hand these two games are probably the most anticipated games for us all season. Leinster away is always a game that we look to play our best rugby in, and then Edinburgh at home - it doesn’t get bigger for our supporters. We have a trophy that we play for which means a lot to our supporters.

“It’s hugely motivating for our players going up against their closest rivals - their rivals for a Scottish jersey as well. From a Scotland perspective we’ll be announcing the tour squad after the game. There will be a lot of anticipation.

“It was a sell-out a number of weeks ago. With Edinburgh winning tonight, they’ll be on a high. They always play well against us. They will play much better than they have in recent weeks, so we can’t wait to play.”

Edinburgh won both legs of the competition last season, when the games were played within a week of each other over the festive period. The second leg had to be switched to Murrayfield because of the state of the Scotstoun pitch, and the loss in what was technically a home fixture was the difference for Glasgow between a home and away semi-final in the play-offs.

At least this time round there will be no such consequences if Edinburgh win, given Glasgow’s final league position cannot change. But the visitors are just as eager to be party-poopers, although they know that if they are to fulfil that role they will have to play more consistently than they did in victory over the Dragons, never mind in those nine defeats which preceded that win.

“It’s going to be a ridiculously difficult game next weekend,” Edinburgh prop Allan Dell said. “Glasgow are a fantastic side. They’ve shown that they belong at the top of the table.

“We believe that we belong there as well. We’ve shown through recent seasons that we’re capable of it in patches.

“We need to go into the game and concentrate on ourselves - not on them, because we know what they’re going to do. We need to believe in ourselves and go in there with a big bang - and start like we finished against the Dragons.

“Gregor deserves a really good send-off - he’s done fantastically well for the club. I know the players will play really well for him. But we’ve got to go and try and spoil the party for him.”

While taking nothing away from the character Edinburgh showed on Friday, they are aware that other, stronger teams are unlikely to succumb in the way that the Dragons did. And, if they are to win on Saturday, that means starting off strongly and ideally maintaining the upper hand throughout rather than waiting till late in the game to rouse themselves.

“It just seems that we need some fire under our arses to try and start something,” Dell added. “We’ve done well in passages of play, but ultimately we’re our own worst enemies.

“It was nice to get the win, but it’s frustrating. We do the right things, but we don’t do it clinically enough.”

Glasgow do the right things, and do them clinically, which is why they are still favourites. If they get back to the top of their game they should be too strong, but any lapse in concentration could be punished by an Edinburgh squad who may well feel they have more to play for.