AFTER losing the last three matches against Edinburgh, Glasgow at last got the better of their oldest rivals at Murrayfield yesterday, winning 25-12 in a match that doubled up as a PRO12 encounter and as the first leg of the 1872 Cup. The Warriors had won their previous two matches, the Champions Cup double-header against Racing 92, but before that they had been beaten in three league matches running, so this was a welcome return to winning ways for Gregor Townsend.
“We’re very pleased to have won,” the Glasgow coach said after a win that has boosted his team’s hopes of getting into the end-of-season play-offs. “It’s been a long time coming.
“We had lost the last three [against Edinburgh], so winning the fourth was very good. Given where we were in the middle of the first half, when we were being penalised a lot and Edinburgh had a lot of possession, to win by 13 points was excellent.”
Although they were briefly behind in that first half after Alex Allan was sinbinned and Duncan Weir was on target with the second of his four penalties, the Warriors did not concede again while they were a man down. The defiant defence they mounted during that spell was a significant boost to their morale, and Townsend hailed that passage of play as the defining stage of the contest.
“The turning point for us was the yellow card,” he continued. “We really dug deep then and played our best rugby of the game. Up front, we carried well, got our lineout drive going, went through the phases and cause them problems. Then we were getting penalties and we took confidence into the second half.
“The team with more possession was winning more penalties in both halves. In that first 20 minutes we didn’t have the possession, partly due to our inaccuracy, but more due to Edinburgh as they went through their phases really well.”
The Warriors’ defence was just as impressive in the closing play of the game, when Edinburgh forward Bill Mata was held up under the posts, when a try would surely have been converted and given the home team a bonus point for a narrow defeat.
“I thought we defended really well throughout the game, and especially in the last 10 seconds to deny Edinburgh a try,” Townsend added. “Our control in defence was really good. Nobody was flying out of the line, and we were holding our shape really well.”
If there were fewer aesthetic high points in Glasgow’s play than in those hugely impressive victories over Racing, that was partly because of the nature of the derby. But Townsend’s team showed commendable composure as they proved they are perfectly capable of winning a contest in more than one way, and they also displayed remarkable patience for their third and final try, scored by Alex Dunbar.
“Somebody said there were 30 phases in Alex’s try,” Townsend said. “There was a lot of patience there to get the breakthrough. It also took a bit of skill and a couple of offloads, which was great to see. Someone could have got frustrated and tried to go on their own.”
Edinburgh had bags of possession in both halves, but, as their coach Duncan Hodge lamented, they were unable to turn it into tries, with their 12 points coming from Duncan Weir penalties. “It was the story of the game,” Hodge said. “We had pressure and possession but we couldn’t turn it into points.
“We kept accumulating - three, three, three - but they scored a couple of tries and opened up a gap. We didn’t get close enough.
“We had possession, but they’re a strong defensive team. They slowed our ball down really well and probably got quicker ball than us.”
While Glasgow look up and see the top four places within their reach, Edinburgh remain a lowly 10th. They need to start winning soon to have a realistic chance of getting into the top half of the table and thus earning a Champions Cup place next season.
Hodge’s team visit bottom-of-the-table Zebre on Hogmanay seeking revenge for their home defeat by the Italians earlier in the season. Glasgow are at second-bottom Treviso, also on Saturday, knowing that if results elsewhere go their way a win will take them back into the top four.
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