1872 Cup: Ross Ford with subtle dig at Al Kellock

ROSS Ford said yesterday that he harbours no hard feelings against Al Kellock after scrapping with his erstwhile Scotland team-mate during last weekend’s keenly contested inter-city derby match at Scotstoun.

Al Kellock with his man of the match award from Saturday's game. Picture: SNS

However, that spirit of reconciliation only went so far. The Edinburgh hooker went on to downplay the influence which Glasgow’s talismanic captain had on a scrappy encounter. The veteran second-row might have picked up the man-of-the-match award after leading his team to a 16-6 victory, but Ford reckons his performance was nothing to get excited about.

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“He played alright but… Well, it is Glasgow’s prerogative to bring him back. They rested Jonny Gray and Leone Nakarawa has played a bit so they maybe brought him back in to give Jonny a rest,” said an unusually taciturn Ford.

It was a bad-tempered altercation, which reflected the overall mood of the match, but Ford pointed out no blow was landed.

“He was holding me off the ball. I would have done that to any player. If that happens in a game you do it to draw the ref’s attention,” he explained. “I didn’t connect. If I had hit him I would have got sanctioned. There is no point. It’s silly. The best you can do is make a meal of it and draw the ref’s attention.”

Edinburgh and Glasgow face each other again at Murrayfield on Friday in the second leg of the 1872 Cup double-header.

The capital outfit have not emerged from these contests with a superior aggregate score since the 2008-09 season, and have not recorded a victory in an individual match since 2 January 2011, but Ford reckons his team are now well poised to turn the tables on their arch-rivals – despite the fact they must overcome a ten-point deficit against a team that currently sit second in the Guinness Pro 12 table.

“We can certainly play a lot better than we did on Saturday. This is a good opportunity to turn it around,” he said.

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