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Edinburgh beat Glasgow to 1872 Cup glory and Champions Cup spot
By PA
Edinburgh booked their place in next season’s Heineken Champions Cup and reclaimed the 1872 Cup by overcoming a 13-point first-leg deficit with a well-deserved 28-11 win over Glasgow at Murrayfield.
The result means Warriors will play in the Challenge Cup – Europe’s second-tier competition – next year and travel to Leinster in the United Rugby Championship play-offs.
Edinburgh’s place at Europe’s top table came courtesy of them topping the URC’s Scottish/Italian Shield, finishing with a four-point cushion over Glasgow.
With so much at stake, it is not surprising that it was a cagey encounter to start with, and scoring in the first quarter was restricted to a single Emiliano Boffelli penalty following a Warriors offside.
Glasgow squared it on 21 minutes, with Ross Thompson kicking the points following an Edinburgh offside, but the home side were beginning to dominate territory and possession.
Darcy Graham almost found a way through and when he was hauled down the quick recycle gave Blair Kinghorn the opportunity to spin out of a Sam Johnson tackle and stretch over the line.
Boffelli added the conversion to make 10-3 with just over half an hour played.
Thompson narrowed the gap to four points just before the break when Luke Crosbie was penalised for playing the ball on the deck.
But that score was immediately cancelled out by Boffelli when Glasgow captain Ryan Wilson gave away an obstruction penalty at the restart.
Edinburgh flew out of the blocks at the start of the second half with a barn-storming run by Crosbie up the left touchline, and the capital side soon scored their second try off a well-executed set-piece move.
Graham and Chris Dean played crucial roles in opening the gap for Magnus Bradbury to rumble over.
Glasgow were reduced to 14 men for 10 minutes when Rob Harley was sin-binned for trying to slap the ball out of Henry Pyrgos’ hands at the base of a ruck.
Then a Richie Gray offside allowed Boffelli to nudge Edinburgh 15 points ahead.
Crucially, this gave the home side an aggregate lead in the 1872 Cup contest.
The game opened up with 20 minutes to go and, after Dean and Graham had made big yards, the hosts got try number three through Damien Hoyland.
But Warriors did not go down without a fight, and Ollie Smith scored a stunning try from an inch-perfect Domingo Miotti cross-kick.
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Latest Comments
I’m looking forward to attending the Twickenham match, I don’t think it will have a bearing on the outcome of the grand prize itself but it will tell us more about each teams’ preparation and game plan. It’s hard to look past one of the big four (I’m including Canada) lifting the trophy in 2025 but sport is a curious thing, there will still be twists and turns in road ahead.
Go to commentsThe better side seems to be the losing side a lot these days. As far as narrative goes. Must be the big emergent culture of “participation awards” that have emerged in nanny states. ”It looked like New Zealand would take the game from there but lapses in execution let South Africa get back into the game. New Zealand’s goal kickers left five points out there, including a very make-able penalty on the stroke of half”. Sounds like a chronic problem… I wonder how the better team has lapses in concentration and execution? Or are those not important factors in the grand scheme of total performances? In 2023, the ABs at least didn’t give up a lead to lose. They just couldn’t execute to get the points and take the lead. This Baby AB result points to a choke - letting the game slip through your fingers. In the words of the great Ricky Bobby’s dad - “If you’re not 1st you’re last!” Loosely translated - if you didn’t win, you’re a loser.
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