HORNE SOUNDS CHARGE
Sub George leads the fightback as Warriors triumph in derby drama
GEORGE HORNE turned the game around in dramatic style for Glasgow Warriors last night as they did the double over Edinburgh to lift the 1872 Cup.
The scrum-half, who replaced Ali Price on the hour mark, took the match away from the capital outfit in seven breathtaking second-half minutes with a try, two penalties and a conversion.
Edinburgh had no answer to Franco Smith’s side, who deserved their bonus-point victory at BT Murrayfield
They had heroes all over the park for Warriors with centre Sione Tuipulotu, Horne, second row Richie Gray, captain Kyle Steyn and fly-half Tom Jordan all putting in superb performances.
The home side disappointed a 25,000 crowd, with too many of their key men like Blair Kinghorn,
Henry Pyrgos and WP nel posted missing when it mattered.
Tuipulotu praised head coach Smith’s half-time talk for inspiring his team to victory after they were eight points down at the break and struggling to make an impact on the game.
‘We were under the pump in the first half and I thought we weathered the storm pretty well,’ said the Glasgow centre.
‘There was also some good impact from the bench.
‘The message at half-time from Franco when we were down was for us to up the intensity with the ball in the second half.
‘And that is what put pressure on Edinburgh. Franco told us he wanted us to finish the game as a four-try team and we did that.
‘We didn’t win the 1872 Cup last year so this result helps our season a lot.’
Edinburgh were forced into a last-minute change when Wes Goosen had to pull out suffering from a calf injury.
That meant a move for Emiliano Boffelli from full-back to take his position on the wing.
Harry Paterson, who had not been in the original squad, was drafted in to start at 15. Glasgow won a penalty at the first scrum and kicked to the corner as they started to build momentum from the off.
From the line-out, Gray gathered and made some hard yards before the rest of the forwards took the ball from one wing to the other, with second row Sintu Manjezi heavily involved in the attacking phases.
Poor Edinburgh defending allowed Manjezi too much space and he fed winger Steyn who drifted inside to score after only five minutes. Jordan then put over the extras.
Edinburgh responded well to the early setback, with only a superb tackle from Glasgow’s Sione Vailanu stopping Kinghorn scoring in the corner.
From the line-out, a Price clearance kick was charged down by Sam Skinner who was quickly onto the loose ball.
He was well supported by his forwards, Jamie Ritchie leading the charge before the Edinburgh co-captain touched down at the foot of the posts.
Boffelli kicked the conversion, which was quickly followed by a penalty to put his side ahead.
Edinburgh were starting to turn the screw and Ollie Smith did well to touch down a James Lang grubber kick behind his own line.
The Glasgow defence impressed again moments later to hold up Duhan van der Merwe going over the line.
The Edinburgh scrum was dominating, with nel winning his side a penalty from a Glasgow put-in.
They kicked to the corner and, from the throw-in, Skinner gathered. He got the ball back to Luke Crosbie, who was helped over the line by his pack. Boffelli put over the extras.
Glasgow needed some inspiration and they got it from centre Tuipulotu, who made a superb run down the middle before being stopped.
Edinburgh’s Bill Mata was lucky not to be yellow-carded when he collapsed a Glasgow maul following Tuipulotu’s run.
Moments later from a line-out the Warriors won the ball and, with Gray in the box seat, the forwards rumbled forward.
Matt Fagerson was at the back of the maul and touched down.
However, Edinburgh increased their lead to eight points at half-time thanks to another Boffelli penalty.
Lewis Bean came on for Manjezi at the break to try and strengthen the Glasgow line-out but lost his first jump on his own ball.
The first chance of the second half fell to the Warriors after Jordan bounced off Mark Bennett in the tackle. He took the right option to offload to Sebastien Cancelliere but Boffelli had anticipated his actions and managed to stop the danger.
Glasgow then took the lead in controversial fashion. when Vailanu played what looked like a forward pass to Cancelliere before he played in Jordan to score.
Referee Sam Grove White allowed the score despite Edinburgh protests and there was no TMO intervention.
Kinghorn was lucky to escape a yellow card when he blocked Tuipolutu off the ball and then needlessly gave the referee some backchat.
Edinburgh were dealt a blow when Van der Merwe had to go off with a head injury, considerably weakening the home side’s attacking threat.
They also were reduced to 14 men with a quarter of an hour left when replacement Marshall Sykes was yellow-carded for a blatant offside.
Horne, who had come on for Price at scrum-half and was making a big impression, kicked the penalty for Glasgow.
Twelve minutes from time, the impressive Horne then added to his tally by scoring a brilliant try for the visitors.
Tuipulotu put in a grubber kick that bounced up kindly for Steyn on the touchline.
He offloaded to Jordan who played in Horne for the try. The replacement scrum-half also put over the extras and Warriors were now nine points ahead.
Edinburgh managed a losing bonus piont after a consolation try from Patrick Harrison.