Sin-bin call was not only factor in loss, says Bradley

For Michael Bradley, the Edinburgh coach, the controversial decision by referee Peter Allan to yellow-card centre Matt Scott with 13 minutes remaining was a key turning point but not the sole factor in the hosts’ win.

“It was a crucial decision in the game,” he said. “We had a lot of possession, for all of the game really, and the scrum penalty just before that and the yellow card was decisive in terms of the balance of power and numbers.

“The referee was next to it and didn’t see fit to put his hand in his pocket, or stop the play even. Then the touch judge … saw what he saw.

“I thought we did well even when we down to 14 men, and Jonesy [Lee Jones] was nearly in the corner.

“You don’t automatically lose a game when you go down to 14 men, and obviously Glasgow went down to 14 men last week and coped okay with it.”

Last season, Edinburgh lost Ross Ford to the sin-bin late in the Firhill clash, and the hosts claimed a comfortable win thereafter, but Bradley was not downbeat last night.

Having let a 23-13 lead slip at Murrayfield, he made 13 changes to his side in order to give more of his squad experience of the derby – he restored four after Friday’s training – and was delighted with his side’s display.

“It was very close, and I thought the Edinburgh Rugby players were excellent tonight,” he said. “We didn’t go well last week in the breakdown and were better this week. But in critical lineouts we lost a number and you won’t win matches if you don’t win your set-piece.

“But, in general, I thought the attitude and application of our guys was excellent.

“We did create a lot of half-opportunities, and Glasgow’s defence was good, and they were able to snuff them out, but they were under a lot of pressure. They showed great character last week in coming back and they showed it again in defence this week.

“I was very happy with what we produced in terms of opportunities, but disappointed that we didn’t get the win.”