W ilson’s Warrior s
IN a match that will be remembered for the return of spectators and little else, Glasgow secured a first win at the national stadium for four years against a lacklustre Edinburgh side.
Having secured a home semifinal by beating the Warriors last week, Richard Cockerill’s team had little to play for in this last game of the regular PRO14 season, and it showed, leaving the 700 home fans little to cheer at the end of a long period without any live rugby to watch. For their part, Glasgow had little to play for other pride, but they deserved their victory, secured through tries from captain Fraser Brown and winger Ratu Tagive, the other points coming from the boot of Adam Hastings.
Glasgow were forced into a minor reshuffle not long before the match when Richie Gray pulled out because of a family illness. Rob Harley came into the second row, having played at blindside last week, and Kiran McDonald moved on to the bench. That still meant there were only two changes to the Warriors’ line- up from the one that had begun last week’s defeat, whereas Edinburgh had made 10 alterations.
It was the home team who had the first chance to score, but stand- off Nathan Chamberlain, making his first start, was off target with a long penalty attempt. Then Hastings twice passed up chances to go for goal, opting for touch instead as the Glasgow attack got up a head of steam. His decision was justified when a solid lineout produced the opening score of the game for Brown, playing his 100th game for the team. Hastings converted to make it 7- 0.
With quarter of an hour on the clock, a loose ball from the Glasgow 10 invited Edinburgh winger Duhan van der Merwe to run at the defence. When Hamish Watson took the move on he was stopped by a high tackle from Huw Jones, who was sinbinned for the offence.
Chamberlain got his team off the mark with the penalty, but they were unable to take advantage of their numerical superiority in the ensuing 10 minutes as the Glasgow defence stood up well. Edinburgh were still in a decent attacking position inside the Warriors 22 when Jones came back on, but they were penalised at the breakdown five metres out from the posts.
Glasgow remained on top as half- time approached, but there was little discernible pattern to proceedings. The scale of the changes in selection between the two matches surely had something to do with the lack of coherence shown by Cockerill’s team, while Glasgow, for all that they were the better side at that point, looked very much like a team on their last outing of a
long season. They found some extra energy, however, in the last two minutes of the half, and came very close to a second try.
Halted illegally right on the Edinburgh line, they ran the penalty, but Brown lost the ball forward as he dived for the line. Edinburgh cleared to touch, and the Warriors were unlucky to go in at the break with no more than a four- point lead.
That was double the advantage that Danny Wilson’s team had held at half- time six days previously, when they gradually withdrew into their shells in the second 40 and failed to score again, eventually going down 30- 15. The lesson was clear: a narrow lead would not be enough, nor would playing for only half the game, if they wanted to end their season with a victory.
Both teams were unchanged when they came out for the second half, but Cockerill allowed only three more minutes to pass before bringing on a new front row. That should have injected some new life into Edinburgh, but Glasgow remained on top for a time, and were guilty of kicking away possession after they had made good inroads into the opposition half.
Edinburgh committed the same offence, but quickly won the ball back, then were awarded a penalty. Kinghorn went for touch when taking the points would have been a better option, and the lineout drive never got started.
The tempo of the game speeded up notably as the hour mark approached, and an excellent midfield break from substitute Ali Price gained big yardage for Glasgow. A minute or so later they attacked down the left, and after good work by Stafford McDowall, Tagive scored an unconverted try.
The Warriors looked increasingly confident and determined, with Zander Fagerson and Scott Cummings prominent among the forwards who were showing up well in the loose. With 15 minutes to play, Hastings stretched his team’s lead to 15- 3 from a penalty, and Wilson’s first win as head coach was in the bag.