Saffa duo win it for Edinburgh
PRO14 MATCH REPORT: Duhan van der Merwe scored two intercepted tries as Edinburgh beat rivals Glasgow Warriors 23-7 to take home the 1872 Cup.
The South African wing plucked two Adam Hastings passes out of the air and let his pace do the rest as his scores either side of half-time gave Edinburgh the Christmas bragging rights.
Glasgow did have a moment to savour after the Horne brothers delivered a stunning try on Peter’s 150th appearance but the defeat will leave supporters frustrated over the festive period.
Edinburgh started the brighter of the two teams and were rewarded with the first penalty of the match after a Rob Harley infringement at the ruck.
Jaco van der Walt, who has not missed a kick at goal all season, made it 3-0.
Glasgow’s first real attack resulted in a try at the other end when Hastings’ pass was intercepted by Van der Merwe who pinned his ears back and galloped 60 metres to dot down in the corner.
Stuart Hogg got back to get a hand on the South African but there was no stopping him and Van der Walt extended his record from the tee.
Another penalty from Van der Walt made it 13-0 with 20 minutes played.
Glasgow fans had even less to sing about as the first half went on and will have been wincing as they watched their first attacking lineout turned over by their rivals.
The Warriors’ first points were worth waiting for however as the Horne brothers demonstrated their telepathic connection with George putting a delightful chipped kick over Edinburgh’s defence for brother Peter to catch and score on his 150th appearance for the club. Hastings added an easy conversion to bring the scores back to 13-7.
Callum Gibbins was sent to the sin-bin ten minutes into the second half for an offside as he tried to interrupt another Van der Merwe attack to leave Edinburgh with a numerical advantage and Van der Walt capitalised immediately, knocking over the resulting penalty.
Inevitably it was then Van der Merwe at the double. In almost identical circumstances as the first half, he plucked another Hastings pass out of the air before turning on the after burners.
No catching him and Van der Walt added two more to make it 23-7.
Edinburgh have now won six of the past eight derby meetings, with the teams meeting again at Scotstoun on 29 December for the second game of the best-of-three series.
The scorers:
For Edinburgh:
Tries: Van der Merwe 2
Cons: Van der Walt 2
Pens: Van der Walt 3
For Glasgow Warriors:
Try: Horne
Con: Hastings
Yellow card: Gibbins (Glasgow warriors, 54)
Teams:
Edinburgh: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 James Johnstone, 12 Chris Dean, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Bill Mata, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Luke Hamilton, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Ben Toolis, 3 WP Nel, 2 Stuart McInally (captain), 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 David Cherry, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Luke Crosbie, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Simon Hickey, 23 Juan Pablo Socino
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Nick Grigg, 12 Peter Horne, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 George Horne, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Callum Gibbins (captain), 6 Adam Ashe, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Rob Harley, 3 Siua Halanukonuka, 2 Grant Stewart, 1 Oli Kebble
Replacements: 16 Kevin Bryce, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 D’Arcy Rae, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Chris Fusaro, 21 Ali Price, 22 Huw Jones 23 Niko Matawalu
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Lloyd Linton (Scotland), Keith Allen (Scotland)
TMO: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)
@Pro14Official
Two tries from intercepted passes and an all around awesome performance makes Duhan van der Merwe the #GuinnessPro14 Man of the Match today.
Doug Ellis presented the @EdinburghRugby man his award. #EDIvGLA pic.twitter.com/OUOFyVGAuP
— PRO14 RUGBY (@PRO14Official) December 22, 2018
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