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December 28, 2007

Edinburgh Rugby 35 - 31 Glasgow Warriors

Celtic League match played at Murrayfield on Friday December 28th 2007 | 14 comments

Moray Low's try dragged Glasgow back into the match
Glasgow were edged out by an injury-time try in a dramatic seven-try Murrayfield thriller.

Dan Parks looked to have snatched the game as Glasgow recovered from a 15-point deficit to grab the lead two minutes from time of this Magners League clash.

But the Warriors' hopes were dashed when Ben Cairns took a suspiciously forward pass to nip over deep into injury time to settle a ding-dong inter-city clash.

The Gunners were first to strike but Phil Godman breathed a huge sigh of relief as he watched his penalty sneak over off a post after being blown off course by a gust of wind.

Glasgow responded with a period of pressure sparked by Bernardo Stortoni's enterprising burst forward.

Eventually the visitors forced an error from their rivals and Parks easily slotted the equalising penalty.

However, a monster effort by Godman from near the left touchline restored Edinburgh's advantage as eagle-eyed referee Andrew Small pounced on every infringement.

The whistler penalised Glasgow's forwards again for collapsing a scrum in front of their own posts and Godman had a much simpler task to stretch the capital side's lead.

And moments later the Gunners notched the game's first try in dramatic fashion.

Mike Blair looked certain to score after pinching possession from opposite number Chris O'Young.

However, the scrum-half was brilliantly tackled a metre short of the line by Thom Evans.

Dave Callam then plunged over in the corner as Kelly Brown dived in with a last-ditch tackle.

It took the video referee several minutes before deciding that Callam had grounded the ball before sliding into touch.

And the Warriors suffered another savage blow on 33 minutes when Evans was stretchered off after being knocked unconscious by a team-mate.

The winger was struck full on the face by Argentinian full-back Stortoni as the pair went for Godman's crossfield kick.

It could have been even worse for Glasgow when Godman's dummy suddenly opened a huge gap in the visitors' defence.

However, the fly-half was correctly penalised for a forward pass to John Houston who was clean through.

Instead the Warriors reduced their arrears when Parks notched his second penalty only to fall further behind through an opportunist try by Blair.

The fly-half gathered a Parks punt before receiving another forward pass from Simon Webster to nip in under the posts to give Godman an easy conversion.

Parks slotted his third penalty to hand Glasgow a lifeline in the 11th minute of first-half stoppage time, although Mr Small didn't feel de Luca's deliberate knock-on merited a 10-minute spell on the sidelines.

The introduction of Sam Pinder brought some spark to Glasgow's play and stepped up their recovery when power prop Moray Low plunged over after John Barclay stole possession from the Gunners' pack.

Parks' conversion reduced the leeway to just five points and the fly-half was just off target with a drop goal attempt as the Warriors piled on the pressure.

But the Gunners regrouped to give themselves breathing space when Webster stormed through to score after great work by Nick de Luca and Ben Cairns.

Glasgow responded immediately when Brown showed amazing strength to barge through three opponents and touch down in the corner.

Moments later a Parks penalty hauled the visitors within four points as a thrilling clash reached a frantic finale.

Parks appeared to be the Warriors hero when he jubilantly touched down in the corner two minutes from time and then converted his own score to the delight of the big and noisy travelling support.

But Cairns denied Glasgow with that controversial last-ditch score.

Referee Andrew Small (England)
Attendance 6,200
Team
1
Justin Va'a
2
Fergus Thomson
3
Moray Low
4
Andy Newman
5
Alastair Kellock
6
Kelly Brown
7
John Barclay
8
John Beattie
9
Chris O'Young
10
Dan Parks
11
Hefin O'Hare
12
Daryl Gibson
13
Graeme Morrison
14
Thom Evans
15
Bernardo Stortoni
Sub
Eric Milligan
Sub
Ed Kalman
Sub
Dan Turner
Sub
James Eddie
Sub
Sam Pinder
Sub
Colin Gregor
Sub
Scott Barrow
Match Substitutions
Off On
Thom Evans Scott Barrow
Off On
Sam Pinder Chris O'Young
Off On
Justin Va'a Ed Kalman
Off On
Alastair Kellock Dan Turner
Off On
Andy Newman James Eddie
Off On
Daryl Gibson Colin Gregor
Scorers
Dan Parks Penalty
Dan Parks Penalty
Dan Parks Penalty
Moray Low Try 
Dan Parks Conversion
Kelly Brown Try 
Dan Parks Penalty
Dan Parks Try 
Dan Parks Conversion
Comments
Posted by sunday5 on December 28, 2007 11:37 PM | Reply to this comment

Sounds like a belter. Best wishes to Evans, hope your heeds ok!

Well done Gunners.

Gutted tho!

Posted by SpiderPig on December 29, 2007 04:37 AM | Reply to this comment

Worst 1st half performance from a Glasgow team in a long time.. A lot of our Scottish internationals (or should I say hopefuls) went missing tonight, in the biggest game of the year!! WHY??... Thought Pinder, Barrow & Turner added a lot much needed flare to the attack when they entered the game.

2nd half was nearly a dream come true but the ref had an absolute nightmare in awarding the last try & ruined it for all us warriors fans, why was there an English ref?

Posted by Phall on December 29, 2007 08:25 AM | Reply to this comment

Bigger game than Biarritz? Time to develop some perspective...

Posted by ecks tartan army on December 29, 2007 08:51 AM | Reply to this comment

have the SRU not done a ref echange with the RFU?

is it not the same guy who refereed the Ulster game?

Posted by bossco85 on December 29, 2007 12:18 PM | Reply to this comment

we lost that game in the first half, the forwards never showed up! Some brilliant work done in the second though! Turner and Barrow made impact and PInder just ignited the backs. Its a hard one to take but Edinburgh are strong at home, hopefully we can find a way to avoid being "unlucky losers" in the future.

Posted by Baggage on December 29, 2007 04:02 PM | Reply to this comment

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

Posted by Baggage on December 29, 2007 04:03 PM | Reply to this comment

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

Posted by sunday5 on December 29, 2007 06:34 PM | Reply to this comment

Erm.... Good point there Baggage. You don't look like a bit of a prick at all mate!

Posted by onion boy on December 29, 2007 10:13 PM | Reply to this comment

GLASGOW WIN:
Great stuff! We played like champions, what a team! Salt an' vinegar, allt an' vinegar! You'll have had your tea! You'll have had your tea! Ha Ha Ha! Nae luck Edinbuggers!

GLASGOW DEFEAT:
It's the ref's fault! The ref was shocking! Look the ref gave Edinburgh everything all night long! The ref was a p****! The ref shouldn't be reffing again!

Posted by sunday5 on December 30, 2007 11:53 AM | Reply to this comment

Sorry, I must be missing something are you replying to me?. When did I say any of that? If you look at the top of the comments you'll see I posted the first and never mentioned the Ref or us being hard done by at all.

Posted by sunday5 on December 29, 2007 09:30 PM | Reply to this comment

What's happened to Michael Collins? Is he a sort of empty All Black? Or is he injured? Not that we've REALLY missed him but we have been pushed around a little by some of the bigger/better packs. That's not to say the likes of Low haven't been heroic all season tho.

Posted by Miss NZ on December 29, 2007 10:27 PM | Reply to this comment

Well played to Edinburgh for sticking in and grabbing it at the end, well deserved, feel sorry for them though, their supporters are such a dour lot. Glasgow fans were outnumbered maybe 10-1 eh? and still they managed to stick it up em.

Posted by Alan on December 30, 2007 12:14 AM | Reply to this comment

A great advert for Scottish rugby ..or was it? Great entertainment, yes.. (and why aren't all those folk at the other games?) .. but two teams with half our international team haemorrhaging 3 and 4 tries each? What will France do to us? ..and where was our usual solid defence against Edinbuggers? Not happy with that performance! :(

Posted by jagswarrior on December 30, 2007 08:05 PM | Reply to this comment

The 1st half was sheer amateurism.
Glasgow showed class in 2nd half and pack dominated specially at breakdown.
Back row confirmed as shoo-in but they had some slick backs.Luca would be good outside henderson with webster on wing. cairns looked quite good too and blair far too good for o'young.

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