The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Edinburgh expose Glasgow weaknesses in 1872 Cup success
1872 cup: Glasgow need to re-find form ahead of crunch PRO-14 semi-final
Richard Cockerill may not like the analogy (Dave Rennie certainly won’t) but there is something of the Tortoise and the Hare about the Scottish pro teams as this 2017-18 season draws to a conclusion.
The Warriors under Rennie raced out of the blocks in this Guinness PRO14 season with nine successive wins, a playoff spot booked with seven rounds to go and a home semi-final with three left.
They gathered bonus points with ease and scored tries from unlikely, unreasonable places.
Edinburgh, in contrast, made steady if unspectacular progress, and even had an almighty blip when losing a two-try lead at home to Treviso in September. That seemed to stall the fledgling Cockerill era and had everyone rolling their eyes and thinking “same old Edinburgh”.
Instead, the crafty former Leicester coach has brought his team along on the blindside. They passed Glasgow on Saturday night at BT Murrayfield, winning the 1872 Cup finale 24-19 and completely deservedly. They were plainly the better side over the three legs.
They probably won’t pass the Warriors in the final reckoning of the play-offs. Munster at Thomond Park on Saturday, the Irish team having everything to play for, looks as unwinnable a task as there is in the PRO14 and a feat to knock all Cockerill and his team’s achievements this season into the shadows.
Glasgow already are a week ahead in the standings, but no-one now seems very confident that their unbeaten home record in the league this season will survive a semi-final in three weeks against Scarlets – assuming they beat the Cheetahs next weekend. And few would favour them in a final in Dublin against Leinster or Munster.
After victory on Saturday, Cockerill was still insisting Glasgow were the better team than his, and even suggested that the Warriors might not have had enough motivation for the contest. It was an interesting comment, because much of his side’s motivation had evaporated 15 minutes before kick-off.
The coach had learned Ulster had three of the four tries they needed against a Munster 2nd XV at half-time when he gave his pre-match talk, and told his team to assume their play-off rivals would get the five-point bonus point they needed.
Instead, by the time of the final huddle after the warm-up, they learned that Ulster hadn’t scored again in the second half, and that the 24-24 draw at Thomond Park meant Edinburgh were in the playoffs and had qualified for next season’s European Rugby Champions’ Cup.
“OK, we’re through, that doesn’t mean this doesn’t matter,” Cockerill told them. “Let’s have some pride in what we’re doing and show what we can do.”
Edinburgh didn’t back off, even when Glasgow sliced through them for a peach of a try by Callum Gibbins, a blur of quick feet and hands from Finn Russell, Nick Grigg and George Horne that cut a swathe right down the middle of the Murrayfield pitch.
At 14-7 the Warriors seemed to be in the mood for a statement, refuting the idea they had stopped for a proverbial nap under the tree, and that the “natural order” was about to be restored.
Instead Edinburgh successfully attacked the soft underbelly of this Warriors team, exposed during the European campaign; that they struggle to cope with a direct and physical forward game. Edinburgh had to be patient, and all of their three tries came when they seemed to lose control of possession only to re-gather it, Jamie Ritchie twice being the man to rescue the ball and set up scoring chances.
The third try was the killer though. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne – who seems unable to agree on terms to keep him at Murrayfield – spotted Lee Jones creeping up and delivered a perfect kick behind the Scotland wing for Duhan van der Merwe to continue his scoring run.
Edinburgh added only three points in the second half but trusted in their defence and set-piece, although Sio Halunukonuka’s run and Adam Hastings’ break showed just how much they were hanging on at the end. But the reward for their resurgent season was deserved.
At least Glasgow showed a little of what had brought them to the play-offs so quickly on Saturday, but with four losses in their last six league games the season seems to be petering out for them, unless they can reset somehow on the training pitch in the three weeks between now and the semi-final.
Jonny Gray and Tommy Seymour will probably be back for that, and Finn Russell had his best game for a month on Saturday. But Stuart Hogg looks out of sorts, and the pack just don’t seem meaty enough to cope with the three top contenders left in the play-offs, Leinster, Munster and Scarlets.