It may seem slightly odd that Glasgow Warriors will be the team getting an extra festive day off following yesterday’s shocking defeat at the hands of Edinburgh’s 14 men, but the contrast in energy levels in the first of the 1872 Challenge Cup derbies suggested that some additional rest may well be what they require after a run of sapping defeats that has threatened to derail their season.

Dave Rennie, their head coach, was clearly bitterly disappointed by his first derby experience, but he was by no means rushing to press the panic button as he suggested that it should be patently obvious to his players that after suffering such an embarrassing defeat they must now rouse themselves and produce a much better performance if they are to retain the 1872 Challenge Cup.

With the trophy winners now being decided on a best of three basis, as opposed to points aggregate as in previous years, with the third and potentially decisive match back in Edinburgh in April they must make the most of home advantage at Scotstoun next Saturday to take it to a decider and Rennie is expecting a reaction to the way they let themselves and their supporters down.

“These guys will be highly motivated because we know that was a disappointing performance and we’re a hell of a lot better than that, so we’ve got to put that on the park,” he said.

“It’s not just for the guys in the room, we represent a region which has high expectations.”

He even mooted the possibility that it was a result that could prove beneficial in the longer term, providing his players with a reminder of what is required.

“Who knows? We may look back on the game a godsend,” Rennie mused.

“There’s all this talk about being unbeaten but we weren’t good enough tonight and we need to be better next week.”

Either way he believes that their awareness of what happened to them at Murrayfield means he does not have to do anything different to what he had planned in the build-up to the return match.

“We’re not going to panic around that or have a knee-jerk reaction,” he said.

“We’ll bring them back in on the 27th, give guys a chance to spend time with family at Christmas.

“To be honest, for me, it is about an attitude adjustment more than anything else. Tactically we’re not going to change a hell of a lot but we need to be better with and without the ball and most of that is in the top couple of inches.”

Edinburgh will meanwhile have had that extra day’s training under their belts with their coach Richard Cockerill looking as if he could hardly wait to get Christmas out of the way and get back to work as he confirmed that they will be “back into training at 8am on Boxing Day.”

That perhaps shows some sort of understanding of the history of a fixture in which home advantage generally makes the difference, Edinburgh’s victory at Scotstoun in the final match of last season having been their first in Glasgow since 2003.

That result also served to underline just how hard it is to win home and away derby matches in the same season, Glasgow having won the match in the capital last Christmas by what proved a big enough margin to let them reclaim the 1872 Challenge Cup.

Cockerill seemed almost disbelieving at having won the opener in this season’s series with the odds stacked against his side when they were reduced to 14 men so early in the match when already 7-0 down, but he admitted that he still needs to see more from them to be sure that they fully understand what is required.

“Before the game I didn’t know where we’d end up tonight and when I’m sat next week before kick-off I’ll have no idea where we we’ll be again because we’ve yet to do it against good sides,” he observed.

“If as a club we’re going to develop and push into Europe and play in the big competition we’re going to have to play big teams and back up so I don’t know."

Saying so has become something of a mantra for the former England hooker who was aware when he took on the Edinburgh job that his side had a reputation for being able to reach decent levels of performance in one off matches, most notably in cup competitions, but also for then letting themselves down.

Having done such a fine job of containing Glasgow on Murrayfield's wide expanses when under-manned, it would seem reasonable to suggest that they should have every reason to believe they can now head to Scotstoun believing that with 15 players on the pitch they can not only win but win well, however Cockerill is fully aware of the dangers of that sort of logic.

“This is the challenge for me next week, to make sure we don’t get too excited about winning one game because that’s all it is, it’s four points but it’s just one game and can we come in on Tuesday and back it up again in training, consistency of training and effort and turn up at Scotstoun next week and play just as well, or are we going to fall away thinking it’s alright if we lose next week because we’ve already won one?That’s not what we’re looking for," he said.