Edinburgh retain 1872 Cup and secure play-off spot in PRO14 return

  • 28 August 2020

Edinburgh retained the 1872 Cup for the third straight season while securing their place in the Guinness PRO14 play-offs after seeing off rivals Glasgow Warriors behind closed doors at BT Murrayfield.

The capital side overturned a 15-13 half-time deficit - scoring 17 unanswered second-half points - with Nic Groom and replacement Charlie Shiel both grabbing scores after the break.

A penalty-laden first half saw the first points of Edinburgh’s restarted season come from the boot of Jaco van der Walt, who slotted between the posts just three minutes in. (0-3)

Barely two minutes passed and van der Walt at it again, with another close-range penalty in front of the posts, giving Edinburgh a bit of breathing room as they pulled 0-6 ahead.

Retaliation soon came in the form of an Adam Hastings penalty (3-6), which inspired an influx of attacking play from Glasgow, culminating in a quick-tap penalty being swung out wide to Pete Horne, who found his way through the Edinburgh line for the first try of the match, followed by a conversion from Hastings. (10-6)

Edinburgh’s first try came in the 32nd minute, when scrum-half Nic Groom found a gap in the Glasgow defence, selling his marker a dummy pass, and sliding onto the try-line to put five points on the board, with the extras added by van der Walt. (10-13)

Once again though, Glasgow were quick to respond, with Hastings scoring the try following a period of good play from their forwards, to put the Warriors ahead going into half-time. (15-13)

Both sides proved to be tough eggs to crack in the second half, as the match clock ticked into 60 minutes before the next points came.

These points came from the efforts of Duhan van der Merwe and Nic Groom, as the winger launched an offload over to the latter, who trotted over the line for his second try of the match. Jaco van der Walt then added the conversion. (15-20)

Van der Walt’s point haul was increased even further, as the fly-half punted a penalty to put the capital side eight points clear. (15-23)

Edinburgh weren’t finished there though, as youngster Charlie Shiel came off the bench to add a wonder-try. Taking on an almost half-pitch run, the scrum-half weaved his way in and out of the Glasgow defence to blaze over the whitewash and push Edinburgh further ahead, with a van der Walt conversion making it 15-30.

These would be the final points of the match, as the final whistle blew five minutes later, leaving Edinburgh as worthy 1872 Cup winners, and putting the capital side into the play-offs.

live commentary 5:15 PM Saturday 22 Aug 2020

{{ comment.matchTime }}

Kick-off 5:15 PM

Glasgow Warriors

Edinburgh

Newsletter sign up

Sign up to our newsletter today to receive the latest updates from the club.

sign up