A decent win for Glasgow, but in strangely subdued circumstances.
After all the predictions of a festive firecracker of a match, fuelled by ancient rivalries, the first leg of the 1872 Cup barely fizzled. It dished up one try, and should probably have delivered another, but it was all very flat as far as atmosphere was concerned.
At the end Glasgow had a 10-point margin, a significant lead for their defence of the 1872 Cup - decided on aggregate scores - ahead of the return match at Murrayfield next Friday. But they could take no great satisfaction from a performance in which they could not capitalise on their clear advantages in many areas.
Glasgow had Edinburgh in the scrum, the lineout, the ruck and the maul. Yet it was only after Josh Strauss's 37th-minute try that they had them on the scoreboard as well. That stretched the Warriors' lead from 6-3 to 13-3, but it would be pushing it to say it put them in the driving seat.
"We know we can play better," admitted Glasgow coach Gregor Townsend afterwards.
"But credit to Edinburgh because they defended really well and slowed down our ball. It's tough to play good attacking rugby off slow ball."
It is also tough to get a convincing result when the referee provides no help whatsoever. With 67 minutes on the clock, Glasgow sent replacement scrum-half Niko Matawalu through for a try, but it was chalked off by George Clancy - on the advice of the touch judge apparently - for a forward pass by DTH van der Merwe.
The decision shocked the Scotstoun crowd, and Townsend was no less surprised. Clancy had the option of referring it upstairs to the television match official, or even watching on the giant screen in the corner of the ground, but chose not to use it, a judgment that confounded Townsend.
"We brought in the TMO for things like this. There has been chat among supporters and the media that we use the TMO too much, but if you don't use him for a try decision then you might as well not use him at all. To me it looked like a try."
Edinburgh might have dodged a bullet there, but they shot themselves in the foot in many other areas. "In derby games you have to take your opportunities and give nothing away," sighed Edinburgh coach Alan Solomons at the end. "We made one or two costly errors, but the key for me was that we turned over too much ball to them."
Solomons added that his side could still turn things around and lift the trophy next week, but they showed precious little in attack to back that up. Greig Tonks had one marvellous run, but that was about it from the capital outfit.
The fixture usually becomes more open in the second leg, but if that pattern is maintained you would back the current Glasgow side to win by an even more handsome margin.
Glasgow were also helped by an assured display from Duncan Weir, making a rare start at fly-half, who controlled things nicely throughout.
Weir's two first-half penalties ushered the Warriors into their 6-3 lead - the Edinburgh points had come from an early strike by Sam Hidalgo-Clyne - but his wider game was an even more significant factor in the win.
It was fitting that Strauss's score came off yet another Edinburgh turnover. That happened on the left side of the pitch, from where Glasgow moved the ball swiftly to the right.
Weir put in a wonderfully subtle chip which was duly collected by Sean Lamont, who then steamrollered Tom Brown in the same movement. Peter Horne came up in support, providing the link which put Strauss through.
Edinburgh did come back in the third quarter, narrowing the gap when Tom Heathcote, who had replaced Jack Cuthbert shortly after the break, kicked a penalty to move things along to 13-6 on 52 minutes. But the Edinburgh revival was short-lived, and Heathcote's points marked the end of it.
Glasgow stormed back. Clancy denied them the Matawalu try, and also overlooked a lurid high tackle by Ben Toolis on Tim Swinson a few moments earlier, but Weir gave his side a more comfortable lead when he knocked over his third penalty in the 69th minute. From that point on, Edinburgh never looked as if they could add anything to their meagre points total.
"We never gave ourselves opportunities through turning over too much ball, and a lot of those problems related to what was going on at the breakdown," said Solomons.
"And therefore our backs never really got an opportunity, Glasgow had more ball and more field position and that made a massive difference.
"But there was not much between the sides at all. One missed tackle and one try for them, and the odd mistake, that was it. Ten points is not a massive margin. Big enough to make it a big challenge but certainly not an impossible task."
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