Glasgow seize initiative in 1872 Cup with hard-fought win over Edinburgh

Glasgow seized the initiative in the 1872 Cup as a solid first-half display laid the foundations for a 16-10 first-leg victory over Edinburgh at Scotstoun on Friday.

There were only two tries in a hard-fought match – scored by Glasgow’s Jack Dempsey and Edinburgh’s Connor Boyle – but the hosts’ clinical kicking ultimately proved the difference ahead of the second leg at BT Murrayfield next week.

Both sides made late changes ahead of kick-off.

Glasgow promoted Lucio Sordoni, who was not even in the initial 23, to the starting line-up, with Murphy Walker dropping to the bench after Nathan MacBeth, who was among the subs, was forced to withdraw.

For Edinburgh, who were already without a string of key men through injury, Harry Paterson came in for just his second appearance after Wes Goosen was deemed unfit for action.

The visitors spurned a good chance to get the first points on the scoreboard in the fifth minute when Emiliano Boffelli – kicking into the wind – sent a penalty wide of the posts from a central position.

The Argentine’s kicking once again let him down eight minutes later when he kicked another penalty against the post.

Those missed kicks proved costly as Glasgow made the breakthrough in the 28th minute when Dempsey received a pass from George Horne and powered beyond a challenge from Chris Dean to touch down over the line. Horne duly added the conversion.

In the last action of the half, Horne kicked a close-range penalty to give Warriors a 10-0 lead at the interval.

But Edinburgh made a strong start to the second half and they got themselves back in the game when Boyle powered his way over following a line-out near the Glasgow line. This time, Boffelli was successful with his conversion.

The hosts – having been on the back foot for much of the second half – extended their lead to six points in the 67th minute when Tom Jordan kicked a close-range penalty.

And Jordan then kicked another penalty in the 75th minute to put Glasgow more than a converted score ahead of their visitors.

Jaco van der Walt gave Edinburgh a glimmer of hope with a long-distance penalty in the 79th minute, but it proved too little, too late.