Edinburgh fall short in 1872 Cup opener

  • 24 December 2019

Edinburgh fell short in a classic 1872 Cup tussle as Glasgow Warriors scored late on to secure an opening leg victory at Scotstoun.

The capital side had led leading into the final 10 minutes following Blair Kinghorn’s 71st minute try, but George Turner crossed the whitewash just four minutes later for the go-ahead score.

Although the match never really threatened to spill over into complete chaos, five yellow cards were handed out over 80 minutes as the pendulum swung one way and then the other with each side landing blow after blow.

But a flurry of late tries saw the hosts claim bragging rights as scores from Ali Price and Turner, either side of a brilliant effort from Kinghorn, sealed victory for Dave Rennie’s men.

It took just six minutes for Glasgow to land the first blow of the evening. Hastings doing the business from the tee after Edinburgh were penalised at the breakdown.

But Edinburgh gradually began to creep back into the game and after Glasgow were pinged for offside, Hickey stepped up to level the scores with just over 20 minutes played.

More indiscipline from Warriors enabled Kinghorn to secure territory for Edinburgh, who were given a further boost when Ruaridh Jackson was sin-binned for a cynical trip.

The visitors failed to capitalise initially as Hickey’s penalty struck the post but after Edinburgh regathered the ball, Warriors handed him a second chance by conceding another penalty.

This time Hickey made no mistake from 15m out, straight in front of the sticks, to give Edinburgh the lead for the first time against the 14 men of Glasgow.

Rather than building on their momentum, Warriors’ dominance in the scrum gave the hosts a chance to respond almost immediately – a chance Adam Hastings grabbed with both hands.

And with just seconds to play in the first half, Edinburgh were also reduced to 14 when Bill Mata was sent to the naughty step after being adjudged offside as he thwarted a potential Glasgow score.

Cockerill’s men responded to the disappointment of losing a man by winning a scrum penalty against Fagerson, ensuring the two sides went into the break all square.

Despite Warriors’ best attempts, they were unable to take advantage of Edinburgh’s missing man as Mata returned with the sides still unable to be separated on the scoreboard.

But before Edinburgh could get back their full complement they were reduced to 14 again when Stuart McInally was sin-binned for a high tackle on Fraser Brown on 49 minutes.

Yet in a game where the tackles were flying in, Warriors’ man advantage lasted only a few minutes before they had another man sin-binned when Turner was penalised.

Hickey held his nerve to land the three-pointer to put Edinburgh back in front but Glasgow showed their spirit to respond with the game’s opening try after a bit of magic from Hastings.

The fly-half’s clever chip over the Edinburgh defence was collected by Huw Jones, who sprinted towards the line before drawing the man and putting Price in under the posts.

The score kicked off a frantic final ten minutes as Kinghorn cut through the Glasgow defence to finish a beautiful sweeping move and put Edinburgh back in front.

live commentary 5:45 PM Saturday 21 Dec 2019

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Kick-off 5:45 PM

Glasgow Warriors

Edinburgh

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