Franco Smith praises Glasgow Warriors’ ability to grind out victory as they move above Edinburgh

Franco Smith expressed his satisfaction with Glasgow Warriors’ fourth win in a row but has warned his players to expect a very different challenge when they face Edinburgh in the second leg of the 1872 Cup at Murrayfield next Friday.

Glasgow Warriors' Jack Dempsey scores a first half try in the 16-10 win over Edinburgh at Scotstoun. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Glasgow beat their oldest rivals 16-10 at Scotstoun in a physical first leg played in difficult conditions. The wind and driving rain never relented but the home side were disciplined and worth their narrow victory, with Richie Gray and Jack Dempsey particularly effective.

Smith is exercising an increasingly impressive influence on the Warriors and the head coach praised his players’ ability to grind out the result.

“I’m very happy with the fight for the gain line the guys showed,” said the coach. “We didn’t get the attacking platforms we hoped for but the guys stuck in well. There’s still a lot of learning to be done, but I’m happy to get the win. We must learn now how to muscle teams out in the last 20 minutes and see the game out, which we did..

Edinburgh captain Jamie Ritchie is consoled by Glasgow skipper Kyle Steyn. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

“Next week will be a completely different story away from home. We’ve got Christmas now and I hope the guys enjoy that but we know we will face a really strong Edinburgh team next week.”

Jack Dempsey opened the scoring with a first-half try, converted by George Horne, and the scrum-half added a penalty just before the break. Edinburgh came back strongly at the start of the second period and Connor Boyle forced his way over. Emiliano Boffelli, who missed a couple of first half penalties when the score was 0-0, converted but Glasgow pulled away with two penalties from Tom Jordan. The visitors secured a bonus point near the end thanks to Jaco van der Walt’s long-range penalty.

Mike Blair, the Edinburgh coach, felt Glasgow deserved their win.

“It was a derby game - we probably didn’t see the best of either team,” said Blair. “Sometimes that happens and it is how you manage the big pressure moments. I thought into the breeze, we weren’t at our best, but we managed the conditions pretty well and managed to restrict them to just the one try.

“In the second half we struggled back into the game and put ourselves within three points, but there were just a couple of things which had they gone the other way, or had we been slightly smarter with our decision-making, the result could have been the other way.

“They deserved their win. I thought they showed more physicality than us at the start of the game and more intent.”

While the 1872 Cup will be decided on the aggregate score over the two legs, each game is worth United Rugby Championship points in its own right and the four that Glasgow gained drew them level with Edinburgh in the standings. Both teams are on 24 points but Glasgow are above their city rivals because they have won more matches. They also have a game in hand.