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United Rugby Championship
Glasgow Warriors (7) 24
Tries: Fagerson, Darge, Hiddleston, Stephen Cons: Hastings 2
Edinburgh (5) 12
Tries: Richardson, Gilchrist Con: Thompson
Glasgow Warriors took a big step towards winning the 1872 Cup for the fourth year running with a bonus-point first-leg victory over Edinburgh at Hampden.
Warriors were on top for most of the match, but led only 7-5 at the break after Dylan Richardson scored for the visitors in response to Matt Fagerson’s opener.
Glasgow’s dominance was rewarded in the second half as Rory Darge, Gregor Hiddleston and Seb Stephen crossed for tries, with Grant Gilchrist responding for the visitors.
Franco Smith’s side will take a 12-point lead into next Saturday’s second leg at Murrayfield.
Warriors started on the front foot and, despite some decent maul defence from Edinburgh, they were breached when Fagerson blasted over from close range to get the home side up and running.
The first 25 minutes were all Glasgow and only some aggressive Edinburgh work at the breakdown and in defence kept them at bay.
Then on their first meaningful foray into Glasgow territory, the visitors struck back when Richardson powered through the middle of some suspect Warriors maul defence to score.
Glasgow looked for an immediate response and very nearly got it, but Darge and then Jack Dempsey were held up over the try-line.
The hosts continued to batter away and Max Williamson became the third Warrior to be held up over the line as Edinburgh desperately held on and despite their first-half dominance, Glasgow led by just two points at half-time.
The traffic continued to flow one way after the break and Darge finished off a period of pressure to go in under the sticks.
It had been a real forwards-dominated battle until Sione Tuipulotu cut loose with a brilliant break from deep. Adam Hastings looked for Jamie Dobie with a cross-field kick and he was crudely taken out in the air by Ben Vellacott.
The penalty was kicked to the corner, the Glasgow pack rumbled over and Hiddleston touched down to put Glasgow two scores clear.
Edinburgh finally showed signs of life in attack and engineered a golden opportunity for Darcy Graham out wide, but Ollie Smith, outstanding all day, covered superbly to bundle the little winger into touch.
The capital side did make things more interesting when Gilchrist barrelled over – though replays suggested he may have been short of the line when he grounded the ball – to bring his side back within seven.
Any hint of a late comeback was extinguished when substitute Stephen finished off a rolling line-out maul to seal the bonus-point win and secure a handy aggregate cushion to take into next week’s second leg at Murrayfield.
Line-ups
Glasgow Warriors: Smith, Steyn (c), McDowall, Tuipulotu, Dobie; Hastings, Horne; McBeth, Hiddleston, Z Fagerson, Williamson, Cummings, Fagerson, Darge, Dempsey.
Replacements: Stephen, Sutherland, Talakai, Craig, Brown, Miller, Afshar, Lancaster.
Edinburgh: Goosen, Graham, O’Conor, Currie, Van der Merwe; Scott, Vellacott; Schoeman, Ashman, O Blyth-Lafferty, Young, Gilchrist, McConnell, Richardson, Bradbury.
Replacements: Harris, Venter, Hill, Hunter-Hill, Douglas, McAlpine, Thompson, Davidson.
