Glasgow wary of Edinburgh’s back three - stifled at Scotstoun but can they run free at Murrayfield?

Warriors remain wary of capital dangermen ahead of 1872 Cup second leg

Edinburgh's Duhan van der Merwe is tackled during the defeat by Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

There had been plenty of talk going into the first leg of the 1872 Cup about Edinburgh’s back three but Glasgow Warriors did an impressive job of keeping them quiet at Scotstoun.

Duhan van der Merwe threatened fleetingly but Darcy Graham, Wes Goosen and Emiliano Boffelli, his replacement, were well shackled by the home side on the way to a 22-10 victory. Match stats showed that Glasgow made eight clean breaks compared to Edinburgh’s one and they outscored the visitors by three tries to one. Having said all that, van der Merwe still beat more defenders – six – than any other player, enough to serve warning for this Saturday’s second leg on the big pitch at Murrayfield.

“If they get space and time on the ball they can do some real damage,” acknowledged Al Dickinson, the Glasgow assistant coach. “And trying to keep the ball away from them is no easy task. We did a lot of good things on Friday night but didn’t quite piece it all together as we would have wanted. But to grind out a win like that is great considering where we were at half-time.”

Edinburgh finished the first half stronger and edged 10-8 ahead early in the second period but Glasgow took control around the hour mark and got two of their tries while Edinburgh skipper Grant Gilchrist was in the sin-bin.

Dickinson’s chief responsibility is the scrum and he was mostly pleased with the way Glasgow’s props Jamie Bhatti and Zander Fagerson fared against Pierre Schoeman and WP Nel, particularly with the Six Nations just around the corner.

“It was a bit messy at times but overall the boys performed pretty well there,” said Dickinson. “They’ll want to impress as, let’s be honest, it is like a trial match for the Six Nations. It’s mostly Scotland players who are playing. So it’s not just about the league or the cup – there’s a lot of other stuff riding on these games heading into next year. That’s where you see the competition between players come alive. That’s what is so good about these games. Maybe not if you’re a spectator unless you’re a diehard. But those one-on-one battles are so important from a Scotland perspective.”