John Anderson and Rory Baldwin give their player ratings for the first leg of the 1872 Cup at BT Murrayfield.
Edinburgh
Blair Kinghorn: 5 – At fault for the early try and barely touched the ball for the rest of the game.
Damien Hoyland : 5 – Scrambled well all game but both back threes were quiet. Almost assisted in a crucial try at the end for Mata – but crucially, they never grounded it.
Chris Dean: 5.5 – Had a few nice breaks but not enough chances. Defence in the wide channels was secure.
Phil Burleigh: 5 – Cynically held Allan in the ruck which led to the yellow card. Not admirable, but effective.
Tom Brown: 5 – Celebrating his 100th Edinburgh appearance, he was rewarded with the night off.
Duncan Weir: 6.5 – Charged down Finn Russell and kicked his goals. Wasn’t overcome facing his old side. Half a point off for being charged down himself.
Sam Hidalgo-Clyne: 6 – Had a sleepy first half hour during which the quality of passing was poor all round. Came into it a bit more second half and outshone Pyrgos.
Al Dickinson: 5 – Edinburgh edged the scrums for most of the game, but he only lasted half an hour.
Ross Ford: 4.5 – Couple of solid hits, a couple of solid carries. Not much else; standard fare.
Simon Berghan: 7 – Pick of the front rows. Several strong carries and held the whip hand over both Allan and Grant.
Ben Toolis: 5 – Steady if unspectacular, but fluffed a key attacking lineout with ten minutes to play when Edinburgh could have had a bonus.
Grant Gilchrist: 5 – Edinburgh’s captain was only on for an hour but managed to get the better of the ref until then. Can teach Jonny Gray a bit about referee management but is behind in everything else at the moment.
Magnus Bradbury: 7 – Well monitored in attack but still managed to punch holes. Had a fine second half, and his battles with Ashe over the next few yours could be tasty. Edinburgh’s best player.
Hamish Watson: 7 – Made 15/15 tackles and set the example for his team to follow as usual. His head to head is with John Hardie rather than any Glasgow player, but his Scotland shirt is secure.
Cornell du Preez: 5 – Hasn’t found his full form yet and tried to play a bit much rugby. Could potentially offer Scotland a StraussPlus option, but not yet.
Stuart McInally: 4.5 – Should have come on earlier, but didn’t do much of note in the 12 minutes he had, other than miss a crucial lineout throw.
Allan Dell – 6 – Scrums no weaker when he came on, which did his Scotland credentials no harm. Quiet in the loose though.
Murray McCallum – n/a
Fraser Mackenzie: 4 – Quietly argumentative.
Viliame Mata: 5.5 – Will wish he grounded that try at the death but needed to do more to spark Edinburgh if he is to be their Flying Fijian.
Sean Kennedy: 6 – A superb break then nicely timed passing on the second phase almost grabbed Edinburgh a losing bonus point.
Jason Tovey: 5 – couldn’t conjure any magic.
Glenn Bryce: 5 – no chance to do anything against his old team.
Ratings by Rory Baldwin
Glasgow
Stuart Hogg: 6 – A quiet day in the office for Hoggy. One searing break but not much else. Solid in defence.
Junior Bulumakau: 7 – Gets a point for his follow up for the first try. Did nothing else of note.
Mark Bennett: 7 – Looking more lively than he as of late, some good attacking breaks and big defence when required.
Alex Dunbar: 8 – Looking more and more a potential Lion. Show me a better defender at 12 in the Northern Hemisphere. Took his try well.
Lee Jones: 6 – Absolutely no change against his old team, but made his tackles.
Finn Russell: 8 – Both sublime and ridiculous, with a few silly errors but outclassed Weir. Really looks confident at the minute.
Henry Pyrgos: 6 – Controlled the game well, but a few loose passes.
Alex Allan: 6 – Sinbinned, and probably beaten at the scrum but gets a point back for his part in the rolling maul which was a powerful tool all night.
Fraser Brown: 7 – Hit his darts for the most part, and continues to bullock about the park. Clearly enjoying his rugby at the moment.
Zander Fagerson: 6 – A quieter day from Zander, but as with Allan he was part of a dominant mauling effort.
Brian Alainu’uese: 7 – Was everywhere in the loose, made the gain line with almost every carry, and one lovely offload in build up to Alex Dunbar try. Now looking comfortable, which will please Townsend no end.
Jonny Gray: 8 – Tackled, linked, got involved in mauls, disrupted breakdowns. But most importantly he is now starting to lead the side well.
Rob Harley: 6 – Big bad Bob secured quick ball and covered the gaps when Favaro attempted his patented ‘Missile Defence’.
Simone Favaro: 6 – How much must it hurt when this guy gets you? Usual mixture of physicality and passion from Simone, just caught out of position a couple of times. Luckily Edinburgh couldn’t take full advantage.
Josh Strauss: 7 – Got a try, made yards on the carry. Efficient from Josh and edged the battle with Cornell du Preez.
Replacements:
Pat McArthur: 6 – No noticeable drop off in quality, however just not very noticeable.
Ryan Grant: 5 – Brief cameo during the Allan sinbin. Looked to pick up a minor knock during this. Rumours are he’s off to France on loan.
Sila Puafisi: 6 – Solid scrummage, a solid second choice tighthead but less effective round the park.
Adam Ashe: 6 – Great to see Adam back. Looked rusty but keen. Fitnesss will be the most important for Townsend.
Chris Fusaro: 6 – Another man not long back from injury, but had a decent 30 minutes.
Ali Price: 6 – 13 minutes for Ali, looked very sharp and confident. Should have come on earlier to chase the try bonus.
Nick Grigg: N/A – No sign of Nick, which is a shame as his pace against a tiring defence would have been interesting
Sean Lamont: 6 – Couple of touches and a try-scoring offload but really not a busy day for any of the back 3.
Ratings by John Anderson