Fly-half Dan Parks drove Glasgow Warriors to a 25-20 win in Friday’s intercity derby at Firhill but the result was not enough to prevent Edinburgh from lifting the David Lloyd 1872 Cup thanks to a 59-31 aggregate triumph over the two games. The second installment of the league’s Scottish derby came hot on the heels of Edinburgh’s impressive 39-6 victory in the first leg at Murrayfield last week. And although gritty Glasgow, who trained at Rangers FC’s training base at Murray Park in the build-up to the second game, deservedly ran out winners, Edinburgh’s aggregate lead was just too much for them to surmount. An early converted try from prop Geoff Cross saw the visitors increase that advantage but Glasgow, the 1872 Cup holders, showed tremendous spirit to fight back and lead 19-7 at half-time. Dan Parks landed two penalty goals and a brace of drop goals and he also converted Graeme Morrison’s try shortly before the interval. Two Phil Godman penalties cut the gap for Edinburgh to six points, however Glasgow were able to cancel out those scores out with further penalties from Parks and his replacement Ruaridh Jackson. Centre Ben Cairns helped Edinburgh to a losing bonus point, touching down in the dying moments, but Glasgow had done enough to move back up the Magners League ladder and into fourth place. Number 10 Parks spoke pre-match of the desire to ‘regain pride in Glasgow’ and repay the supporters for their faith, after the heavy defeat last time out. Warriors coach Sean Lineen made five changes to his team, one of those positional as Kelly Brown was switched to number 8. Sam Pinder replaced Colin Gregor at scrum half and into the pack came hooker Fergus Thomson, prop Moray Low and flanker James Eddie. Edinburgh boss Andy Robinson made four alterations to his side – winger Mark Robertson, prop Geoff Cross, lock Matt Mustchin and flanker Alan MacDonald were the new inclusions. Flanker Ross Rennie, a notable absentee for the Gunners, underwent an exploratory operation on a knee injury on Tuesday and is awaiting the results. Neither team had won away from home in this fixture since Edinburgh gained a 25-16 success at Hughenden in December 2003 and keeping up that trend, home side Glasgow edged the opening exchanges and established a foothold in the visitors’ half. Yet Edinburgh struck for the game’s first points when Cross gobbled up a loose ball and waltzed over under the posts from 11 metres, leaving the Warriors stunned. Godman converted that 10th minute try but Glasgow wrestled back some control when Parks kicked his first two penalties of the afternoon – the second strike coming after Edinburgh prop Allan Jacobsen was sin-binned for a ruck offence. With Lineen’s men remaining on the front foot, Parks added a drop goal midway through the first half. Edinburgh missed an immediate chance to reply when Godman hit the crossbar with a penalty attempt and onrushing winger Simon Webster failed to collect the ball cleanly on the rebound. Glasgow were rocked though when they suffered a double injury blow. They lost hooker Fergus Thomson to a rib injury and then lock Tim Barker had to be stretchered off after colliding with his team-mate Moray Low. Neverthless, the hosts were able to rally just before the break and chalk up their only try of the game. Morrison made his way over the try-line, past three Edinburgh players, after an initial break by Pinder and good follow-up work by Low, Alastair Kellock and Bernardo Stortoni. Parks tagged on the conversion and a late drop goal to add some extra pep to Glasgow’s step as they headed for the dressing rooms with a 19-7 lead. Glasgow eked out two more penalty opportunities for Parks on the restart but he was off target with both and, in between, Godman boosted Edinburgh’s tally to 10 points. In what turned out to be a tightly-contested second half, Godman bisected the posts again in the 55th minute to make it a six-point game. Both coaches emptied their benches in an attempt to gain the crucial edge for the final quarter. Importantly, Glasgow managed to bag the next score when Parks punished an offside by Jim Hamilton. Five minutes later, Ruaridh Jackson added his name to the scoresheet with a well-struck penalty and Glasgow’s lead was suddenly out to 12 points. Edinburgh made a bout of late pressure count when Cairns dashed over for a consolation try which replacement David Blair converted. It was too little, too late for the men from the capital, however, as Glasgow stood tall and kept themselves right in the hunt for the league title.
