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January 02, 2009Glasgow Warriors 25 - 20 EdinburghRaboDirect PRO12 match played at Firhill on Friday January 2nd 2009 | 11 comments
 Sam Pinder had a fine game in his first start of the season Glasgow moved up to fourth in the Magners League thanks to victory over rivals Edinburgh at Firhill. It was a vastly-improved display from Glasgow after the Boxing Day bashing at the hands of the Gunners. But they produced a brave retort on their own turf to jump back into the top three of the title tussle. They may not have looked capable of cancelling out the 33-point deficit in the aggregate battle for the inter-city bragging rights, but they could not disguise their delight at the result when the final whistle sounded. Glasgow looked the livelier side during the opening exchanges - only to find themselves adrift after 10 minutes thanks to a woefully soft try. Recalled Gunners lock Matt Mustchin took the ball into the danger zone and the chance appeared to have been lost when the ball went loose. But alert prop Geoff Cross reacted first to scoop it up and trundle over under the crossbar without any defender laying a finger on him. Phil Godman landed the simple conversion to give the visitors the ideal cushion, however the wounded Warriors hit back in powerful fashion to narrow the gap to a single point. Dan Parks got them off the mark with a penalty straight from the restart - then repeated the feat in the 13th minute when Allan Jacobsen was yellow-carded by English referee Rob Debney for a ruck offence. Parks surged back into the limelight midway through the half to claim an opportunist drop goal which edged the hosts in front. To add to the frustration of the capital troops, Godman sent a penalty wide almost immediately afterwards. Glasgow's hopes suffered a double setback in the build-up to the interval. First, international hooker Fergus Thomson was forced off with a rib problem - then lock Tim Barker was removed on a stretcher in the wake of a collision with team-mate Moray Low. But they shook off the effects of the reshuffle to create an excellent try in stoppage time. Scrum-half Sam Pinder made the initial break before Low battled to within a couple of paces of the target. Bernie Stortoni acted as makeshift number nine as Parks fed Morrison who left the Edinburgh markers rooted en route to reaching the line in spite of Ally Hogg's challenge. Parks gleefully banged over the kick - and added another slick drop-goal to stretch the the margin to 12 points. Edinburgh were far from out of it, however, and they had the better of the fortunes after the restart. Parks was wayward with two penalty efforts - while Godman was spot-on at the other end to give his team-mates fresh hope. And Godman struck again in the 55th minute to reduce the leeway to just six points and throw the contest back into the melting pot. Coaches Sean Lineen and Andy Robinson made wholesale substitutions as the action entered the decisive phase. And it was Glasgow who snatched the crucial next score when Parks rediscovered his range when Pinder was the victim of an offside challenge by Jim Hamilton. Marksman Parks was replaced by young star Ruaridh Jackson - and the rookie underlined his cool disposition by clipping over a penalty less than two minutes later. Gunners had the last word, however, as Ben Cairns scooted over for their second touchdown to salvage a consolation bonus point - substitute David Blair adding the goal. Sean Lineen said, "It was a hard, hard week for everyone connected with the squad in the wake of their heavy defeat at Murrayfield on Boxing Day. "But I was really proud of the way they acquitted themselves in such difficult circumstances. "They guys dug deep both physically and mentally and we can now look forward to the rest of the Magners League campaign with some new optimism. "The players took a long, hard look at themselves after Murrayfield and captain Ally Kellock has done a fantastic job in terms of motivation. "During the game itself, I thought Sam Pinder was immense at scrum-half, and I was delighted with the efforts of James Eddie and Dan Parks."
Team
Match Substitutions
Scorers
Posted by weebaw on January 2, 2009 11:41 PM | Reply to this comment Yes, it almost made up for last week and the guys that came in did well especially Eddie. I thought Brown was at 6 till half time and thought he was MOM till I realised he was actually at 8. Just shows how we have missed Eddie all season. Beattie will need to learn consistency to get back in though he has the talent.Big Kellock's duel with Hamilton was the highlight, both taking it to the limit and big Al came out on top. Posted by sunday5 on January 3, 2009 10:02 AM | Reply to this comment Did someone remind Justin Va'a of his proud, teak tough, rugby heritage last week? He was a hard man last night. It was great to see him battering the opposition into the turf. The Gunners were avoiding him before half time! Fantastic display from him. It was a good game, shame they got a bonus point/the 1872 cup and we got neither but still good to get the win and great to see the team out muscle the east coasters. One thing I will say is that I think I may have figured out why Murrayfield feels like a library. I was over in the 'other' stand (not sure of the name) and it seemed it was mostly full of gunners support judging by who clapped and when. It was like sitting in a morgue. They made NO noise! Seriously, they were talking in hushed voices! I kept getting wierd looks for shouting and standing up. Wierd. Posted by manattheback on January 3, 2009 01:24 PM | Reply to this comment Totally agree Weebaw! Forwards stood up to 'them' but ref Debney was very weak, allowing 'Yorkie' (that's the thickest 'CHUNK'!!) to pull the scrum round or just drop it because his gut was pulling him down! At least his frustration got the better of him ! Posted by DrGreg on January 3, 2009 10:20 AM | Reply to this comment Excellent result. BTW, the BBC has at 4th in the Magner's league. I can confirm the lack of noise from the Edinburgh fans in the "other" stand. The only chanting we could hear was from the Glasgow fans. Must have something to do with the 4 syllables in Ed-in-Bu-rgh being too difficult to chant. They could try Em-bra, but their grammar tutors would tell them off. Posted by disco on January 4, 2009 12:43 AM | Reply to this comment We were 3rd at full time, 4th after Leinster beat Connacht on Friday evening. League is extremely tight with 7 points covering the top 7 teams. 9 game sprint to the finish now. Unfortunately 5 away games (3 of them in Wales). Posted by sandy dennison on January 4, 2009 12:25 PM | Reply to this comment What is the story about the attendance figures. The Jackie Husband stand holds approximately 6,250 and was about 90% full, whilst the Main stand holds approximately 2,900 and was also about 90% full plus there were a few supporters in the North stand. This suggests that the attendance was nearer 8,000 than the official number of 6,665. Further, two of my son's friends were not permitted entry into the ground as the official manning their turnstile deemed the ground to be full. Was there an inadequate number of officials or of police at the ground and this shortfall has prevented the true attendance figure being revealed? And how come some supporters got into the North Stand whilst my son's pals were sent away? Some answers please? Posted by Alan on January 4, 2009 03:39 PM | Reply to this comment Perhaps you should address that question to Glasgow Warriors Board/Chief Exec at Firhill Arena or to SRU in Edinburgh (in an email?) and also ask supporters club to take it up on your behalf if you are a member. It does seem strange if they were not redirected to another area. Sounds more like just one steward not doing his job properly. SRU will surely not be happy about fans being turned away! Posted by AJ Patterson on January 5, 2009 12:58 PM | Reply to this comment I think the underlying problem is a lack of planning and flexibility by the stewards. There was a similar problem with the supporters bar at the end where they turned people away (er... including one of the Edinburgh players who needed his post match meal). Posted by luckyrugger on January 4, 2009 02:36 PM | Reply to this comment The JH stand wasn't 90% full, large open areas at either end where to be honest you wouldn't want to sit anyway if given the choice. Non-ticketed events decrease the capacity since general admission to a stand at full capacity would be a safety risk; spare single seats all over the stand, with hundreds of people milling about trying to find them. Don't know what the exact reduction on quoted "capacity" is in these circumstances, but it explains the attendance figure. Posted by Strathbungo Scott on January 6, 2009 02:25 AM | Reply to this comment Bollocks - the figure was paying custies. There were also season ticket holders, mini-rugby players, coaches, and probably parents... - I reckon the real figure was nearer 9000. I bet they counted all the free ticket holders in Murrayfield - why is that? Eh? Roll on Glasgow!! Posted by luckyrugger on January 6, 2009 07:26 PM | Reply to this comment Charming. Pity you don't know what you're talking about. Oh well, roll on the 100,000 sell outs at Murrayfield this year(!) Add a comment to this articleIf you're replying to an existing comment, please use the 'Reply to this comment' link above the entry. This will display the comments in a way which is far easier for other readers to follow.
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