Hastings gifts are festive boost for Edinburgh rivals
Christmas
came early for Gunners speed king Duhan van der Merwe – and Adam Hastings was his Santa.
Woeful Warriors suffered another Murrayfield festive fade-out to hand the host first blood in the battle for the 1872 Cup
And the South African winger couldn’t believe his lucky stars as Hastings gifted him TWO interception tries.
It was a huge reality check for the Glasgow playmaker, who had been outstanding in their back-to-back Euro victories over Lyon.
Now the Gunners will aim to secure the trophy for the second time in a row by claiming the glory at Scotstoun on Saturday.
Edinburgh had made a powerful start with big Bill Mata deployed in his usual chief battering-ram role.
Winger Darcy Graham then set off on a run, only to be bundled out of play by Nick Grigg.
And their next attack came to nowt as Henry Pyrgos – facing his old club for the first time – spilled a Chris Dean offload.
They were eventually rewarded for their efforts when Jaco van der Walt slotted a penalty from closerange after the visitors offended at a ruck.
They stretched their lead three minutes later, thanks to van der Merwe’s first moment of glee.
He latched on to an indecisive Hastings pass and romped 60 metres to the line – with van der Walt adding the extras from the widest possible angle.
And even better was to come midway through the half as van der Walt cashed in with three more points when the Glasgow defence gave away a pressure penalty.
Straight from the restart, Warriors ace Dan van der Merwe was lucky to dodge a yellow card for an airborne challenge on Darcy Graham.
The men from the west began to win more territory, but four times in quick succession they coughed up the ball in the danger zone.
Suddenly the Warriors clicked just before the interval – thanks to the Horne brothers.
Scrum half George sent a perfect lob into the touchdown area and Pete gathered to score, setting up a simple conversion for Hastings.
The opening exchanges of the second half were scrappy and error-strewn.
Glasgow were first to settle and they brought the best out of the hosts’ marking strength with a series of pick-and-go surges.
But they suffered a major setback in the 54th minute as skipper Callum Gibbins was sent to the sin-bin for a professional foul in the shadow of his own posts.
And van der Walt gave the Gunners breathing space with the formality of a strike.
Both sides made a spate of bench changes in the hope of mounting a strong finish.
Then Duhan van der Merwe yet again pounced on to a loose Hastings feed to effectively clinch it for the home outfit.
Van der Walt maintained his flawless record with the boot to make the margin 16 points, and Glasgow slithered to their sixth defeat in seven visits to the national stadium.