Edinburgh reclaims 1872 Cup and spot on Europe's top shelve

MATCH REPORT: Edinburgh beat Glasgow Warriors at Murrayfield to clinch the 1872 Cup, the Scottish/Italian Shield and a place in next season’s Champions Cup at their rivals’ expense, winning 28-11.

The result means the Warriors will play in the EPCR Challenge Cup next year and travel to Leinster in the United Rugby Championship play-offs.

Edinburgh faces a trip to Cape Town to face the Stormers in the quarterfinals.

1872 Cup Holders 🏆 @EdinburghRugby pic.twitter.com/xW2y7GqzqC

— United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) May 21, 2022

With so much at stake, it is not surprising that it was a cagey encounter to start with, and scoring in the first quarter was restricted to a single Emiliano Boffelli penalty following a Warriors offside.

Glasgow squared it on 21 minutes, with Ross Thompson kicking the points following an Edinburgh offside, but the home side was beginning to dominate territory and possession.

Darcy Graham almost found a way through and when he was hauled down the quick recycle gave Blair Kinghorn the opportunity to spin out of a Sam Johnson tackle and stretch over the line.

Boffelli added the conversion to make 10-3 with just over half an hour played.

Thompson narrowed the gap to four points just before the break when Luke Crosbie was penalised for playing the ball on the deck.

But that score was immediately cancelled out by Boffelli when Glasgow captain Ryan Wilson gave away an obstruction penalty at the restart.

Edinburgh flew out of the blocks at the start of the second half with a barn-storming run by Crosbie up the left touchline, and the capital side soon scored their second try off a well-executed set-piece move.

EDINBURGH ARE THE SCOTTISH & ITALIAN SHIELD CHAMPIONS 🏰#URC | #URCShowdown | #EDIvGLA | @EdinburghRugby pic.twitter.com/8Xj1ijqxZH

— United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) May 21, 2022

Graham and Chris Dean played crucial roles in opening the gap for Magnus Bradbury to rumble over.

Glasgow was reduced to 14 men for 10 minutes when Rob Harley was sin-binned for trying to slap the ball out of Henry Pyrgos’ hands at the base of a ruck.

Then a Richie Gray offside allowed Boffelli to nudge Edinburgh 15 points ahead.

Crucially, this gave the home side an aggregate lead in the 1872 Cup contest.

The game opened up with 20 minutes to go and, after Dean and Graham had made big yards, the hosts got try number three through Damien Hoyland.

But the Warriors did not go down without a fight, and Ollie Smith scored a stunning try from an inch-perfect Domingo Miotti cross-kick.

Player of the match

Bradbury scored the game’s crucial try and led the charge for the home side throughout the full 80 minutes with some explosive running.

He also battled hard in defence and will be a big loss when he leaves at the end of the season.

Play of the match

Edinburgh’s second try was a thing of beauty, featuring some fine running and handling by Graham and Dean to prise open the gap for Bradbury to score.

There was no looking back for the hosts from that moment onwards.

Ollie Smith’s stunning consolation try for Glasgow deserves a mention.

The scorers

For Edinburgh
Tries: Kinghorn, Bradbury, Hoyland
Cons: Boffelli 2
Pens: Boffelli 3

For Glasgow Warriors
Try: Smith
Pens: Thompson 2

Teams

Edinburgh: 15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Chris Dean, 11 Damien Hoyland, 10 Blair Kinghorn, 9 Ben Vellacott, 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Luke Crosbie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (captain), 4 Jamie Hodgson, 3 WP Nel, 2 Dave Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Adam McBurney, 17 Harrison Courtney, 18 Lee-Roy Atalifo, 19 Marshall Sykes, 20 Ben Muncaster, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 James Lang.

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Ollie Smith, 14 Josh McKay, 13 Sione Tuipulotu, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Rufus McLean, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ali Price, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Thomas Gordon, 6 Ryan Wilson (captain), 5 Richie Gray, 4 Rob Harley, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Jamie Bhatti.
Replacements: 16 Johnny Matthews, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Kiran McDonald, 20 Gregor Brown, 21 Jamie Dobie, 22 Domingo Miotti, 23 Stafford McDowall.

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Ian Kenny (Scotland), Graeme Ormiston (Scotland)
TMO: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)

* Reporting by @URCOfficial