Glasgow Warriors tighten grip on Scottish rugby after Christmas pudding of match at Murrayfield

Franco Smith won’t mind that as his team beat Edinburgh at Murrayfield for the first time in three years, making it back-to-back victories over their ancient rivals after last week’s win at Hampden. They have now lifted the 1872 Cup four years running.

The late tries from George Horne and Jamie Dobie, added to one in the first half by Dobie, meant they won 21-3 on the day and 45-15 on aggregate. It also secured them four precious points in the United Rugby Championship.

Dobie was the standout performer, and not just for his two tries. He was excellent in the air, robust defensively and one of the most threatening Warriors players in attack. His first score was an easy finish but his second was down to speed of thought and deed as he ran on to his own kick up the left wing after Matt Fagerson had won a turnover.

For Edinburgh, it’s a third defeat in a row in all competitions. They offered little in attack for the second week running, with Glasgow holding the upper hand at the set-piece. Their only points came from a penalty from Cammy Scott in the first half and they have now won just two from seven in the URC this season, with a tough match against Benetton in Treviso up next.

The capital club’s stirring win over Toulon feels like a long time ago.

Injuries continue to bite. They lost Dylan Richardson to a rib problem and Lewis Wells to a head injury, both in the first half. Wells was a late addition for Edinburgh who were forced into two changes before kick-off when Duhan van der Merwe and Boan Venter were both ruled out, with hip and neck issues, respectively. Mikey Jones came in for Venter as replacement loosehead.

Bumper Murrayfield crowd not entertained

Edinburgh started brightly enough and had the first points on the board after five minutes. Pierre Schoeman won a turnover penalty and the home side opted to go for the points, almost an anomaly in the modern game. Scott made no mistake from around 40 metres.

The game then became laboured as each team struggled to break down the other. Scott tried to find Graham with a cross-kick but Dobie won the aerial duel with the Edinburgh winger, and not for the first time. Edinburgh did then manage to move the ball out to the wing but Wells was tackled into touch and had to go off for an HIA which he failed.

The 38,179 crowd were quiet - to be fair, there was little to shout about - but they were briefly roused on the half-hour mark when Glasgow prop Patrick Schickerling seemed to bodycheck Graham. The little winger tried to retaliate but it was something of a mismatch.

Glasgow scored the game’s opening try a couple of minutes later with the first bit of real quality in the half. Adam Hastings received the ball after a Warriors lineout and stepped inside the onrushing Edinburgh defender. The shimmy gave him half a yard to set himself and he had the vision to find Dobie on the left wing in acres of space with his cross kick. It was an easy finish for the versatile winger.

Hastings completed his good work by landing the conversion and the Warriors went in at the turn 7-3 ahead.

Glasgow had kept most of their big men in reserve, naming the likes of Zander Fagerson, Scott Cummings, Rory Darge and Gregor Brown on the bench. It was a formidable looking bomb squad. Edinburgh, by contrast, had a youthful look about their reserves, with the teenager Ollie Blyth-Lafferty joined by his older brother, Jerry. They came on together with 12 minutes remaining but couldn’t change the course of the game.

Not even a yellow card in the 50th minute for Glasgow's Angus Fraser for a high tackle on Scott could help Edinburgh who never really looked like scoring a try.

They still had hope while only four points separated the sides but that was extinguished by two Glasgow tries in the final five minutes. The Warriors pummelled the Edinburgh line and after a series of pick and goes from the forwards, it was the wily Horne who managed to score, shaping to pass then darting over.

Dobie had the final say to make it a profitable inter-city double-header for the Warriors who took nine points from the two games while Edinburgh ended up empty-handed.

Teams and scorers

Scorers: Edinburgh: Pen: Scott. Glasgow Warriors: Tries: Dobie 2, Horne. Cons: Hastings, Horne, Lancaster.

Yellow card: Fraser (Glasgow, 50min)

Edinburgh: W Goosen; D Graham, M Currie, J Lang, L Wells (J Brown 26); C Scott (R Thompson 57), B Vellacott (Shiel 64); P Schoeman (M Jones 68), H Morris (J Blyth-Lafferty), P Hill (O Blyth-Lafferty 68), G Young (C Hunter-Hill 64), G Gilchrist, L McConnell, D Richardson (F Douglas 27), M Bradbury.

Glasgow Warriors: O Smith; K Steyn, S McDowall, S Tuipulotu, J Dobie; A Hastings (D Lancaster 61), G Horne; P Schickerling (N McBeth 48), J Matthews (G Hiddleston 48), S Talakai (Z Fagerson 48), A Craig, A Samuel (S Cummings 12-22; 48) M Fagerson, A Fraser (R Darge 61), J Dempsey (G Brown 48). Replacements: Ben Afshar.

Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU).

Attendance: 38,179.