Bit Better...Still Not Great
WELCOME: a very happy new year to all our readers and many thanks for sticking with us since we launched this newsletter a few months ago. 2020 was an absolutely mad year for Scottish rugby fans, and we are confident 2021 will not disappoint. If you are enjoying our rants please do share with friends and subscribe using the buttons below.
1872, AT LAST: it finally came good for Glasgow on Saturday evening, as Danny Wilson’s men deservedly won the second-leg of the 1872 Cup. Despite building up a 13 point lead at one point, the Warriors almost let the game slip out of their grasp, with Jaco Van der Walt’s missed conversion of an Eroni Sau try in the last minutes of the match preserving the host’s narrow lead. The Warriors will be delighted to deliver such a cheering victory after what has been a difficult season so far.
The match started in true 1872 Cup fashion, with nerves, basic errors and horizontal rain halting any real fluency to proceedings. However, Glasgow looked up for the fight - led by the Fagerson brothers, George Turner and Aki Seiuli - and managed to win a string of penalties out of a seemingly sluggish Edinburgh pack. Warriors stand-off Ross Thompson, on his starting debut, confidently slotted two of these to put Glasgow into a deserved 6-0 lead.
Van der Walt responded with a penalty of his own, and Edinburgh quickly capitalized on their man advantage when Turner was sent to the sin bin, with Jamie Farndale crossing in the corner after nice hands from Chris Dean and Mark Bennett in the centre.
However, Glasgow managed to narrow the gap going into half-time, Thompson adding another penalty in bizarre circumstances, after Edinburgh scrumhalf Nick Groom - believing a passing train’s horn was the half-time hooter - ran backwards and booted the ball straight into touch, with 90 seconds remaining on the clock. 10-9 to Edinburgh at the break.
The match found its feet in the second half, and it was Glasgow that took the initiative. Matt Fagerson crashed over from close range after patient build up from his forwards, then Turner dotted down after a powerful driving maul. However, Edinburgh struck back almost immediately, a well-orchestrated set piece move from a lineout sending Cherry through, who linked with Hamish Watson to send Chris Dean, our very own Sweet Prince, over by the posts. 23-17 to Glasgow: game on.
After Huw Jones - more on him later - was sin binned for cynically slowing down an Edinburgh attack, Glasgow were reduced to 14 men for the remainder of the context and it felt inevitable that Edinburgh would cross the whitewash. It was the impressive Eroni Sau who did so, steamrollering through Glasgow debutant Ollie Smith to cross in the corner. However, Van der Walt missed the conversion, and Glasgow were able to close out the match, sparking celebrations that the Thistle had exclusive access to.
Glasgow were deserved winners, fronting up in the forwards, hassling at the kick chase and generally refusing to let Edinburgh get comfortable. As mentioned, big game players like the Fagersons, Richie Gray, George Turner and Huw Jones, stepped up to the plate and got the better of their opposition man. It was also refreshing to see Glasgow’s young guns, Thompson and Rufus McLean, stepping up to the plate and seemingly relishing the contest (special mention for fellow whippersnapper Ollie Smith, who recovered from his miss on Sau to successfully take the next restart and secure the ball for Glasgow to close out the match). Huw Jones was once again the best attacking player on the park; increasingly it feels like Townsend, despite his recent more puritanical streak, cannot ignore his talent.
Although Edinburgh could well have sneaked the match, it would have felt a somewhat hollow victory. Cockerill’s men have looked increasingly ponderous over the last few months, rarely taking matches by the scruff of the neck. His players seem to have mastered the box kick caterpillar, but there is not much else going on in terms of attacking strategy (not helped by Jaco’s seeming allergy to the gain line). It is a crying shame when you look at the undoubted talent there is at his disposal.
Glasgow move up to 4th in Conference A, while Edinburgh remain in second bottom of Conference B.
SIX NATIONS BUILD UP: The focus of Scottish rugby’s misery will now shift to the international stage and an opening round match away to England. No current Scottish professional had even been born the last time Scotland beat England at ’Rugby HQ’ (I’ve just been a little bit sick).
Also in the least shocking piece of news to come out of the SRU in 2021 the 2nd match of the Six Nations against Wales will be played behind closed doors…hopefully ‘Sold Out BT Murrayfield’ will roar, or at least murmur again in the not too distant future.
HOOKERS WANTED: With Fraser Brown side-lined for the foreseeable future, news that Stuart Mcinally is needing specialist attention to a neck injury are - well - a bit of a pain the neck. George Turner has always fronted up well for Scotland and Glasgow when given his chance, so slots into the number 2 jersey simply enough. However, reaching into the barrel of spare hookers and you are very quickly scraping at the bottom.
CHERRY PICKING: After a solid showing vs Glasgow, expect Dave Cherry to join up with the Scotland camp for the six nations. He is uncapped, but has been involved in a couple of camps and looks the form fourth choice hooker. Grant Stewart has barely played at Glasgow, and Leicester’s Jake Kerr (both of whom have been capped by Toony) is lacking minutes as well. Maybe hotly tipped u20s RWC top try scorer Ewan Ashman will get a left field call from Sale? Otherwise, we are keeping our fingers crossed for a kilted kiwi/Scottish Springbok coming out of the wood work when the squad is named on Wednesday.
KING OF THE NORTH: Blair Kinghorn signed a “contract extension” with Edinburgh this week…this probably means at a minimum one year but at the most two…just tell us the bloody dates.
At Thistle HQ we continue to forget just how young Kinghorn is at only 24 - debuting at 18 and collecting 94 Edinburgh appearances to date. Whilst he hasn’t kicked on as much as we’d hoped over the last two years he continues to be a very solid option for Edinburgh and potentially world class on his day.
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BRYCE PARTING SHOT: the news that Glen Bryce was leaving Scotstoun at the end of his current deal, signing a deal stateside with the LA Giltinis, was met by Warriors fans with a mixture of disappointment and surprise. Bryce has been a consistent performer across his two spells at the club, and having had to bide his time behind Hogg, has been challenging Huw Jones for the Glasgow 15 shirt in recent months. In addition, the back three options at the club are fairly shallow at present, with little signing news on this front.
However, in an illuminating Instagram post (see below), Bryce revealed that the decision was driven mainly by the SRU rather than the Warriors. We do wonder whether someone like Richard Cockerill would put up with this sort of interference?
We say fair play to Bryce. While Major League Rugby is still untested, there has been a steady stream of quality players signing up to the tournament, which has huge potential.
He will be welcomed by a host of familiar faces, with Adam Ashe, DTH Van Der Merwe and Langilangi Haupeakui (who had an ill-fated spell at Glasgow in 2016) all joining him on the Giltinis roster. We have also heard on the grapevine that his contract - which apparently includes an F45 gym franchise under his name - is more lucrative than what Glasgow were prepared to offer…
SRU bad boy Rory Hughes, who has never been afraid to speak his mind, took a more direct approach to the issue:
OTHER STUFF:
Finn Russell doing Finn Russell things…see the link here
Rugby Pass put up a video of Zebo and Ryan Wilson discussing why Finn Russell would slot into a Tourist XV. We already can’t wait for the Ryan Wilson post retirement interview…
Just as Scotland face a hooker crisis an unlikely hero potentially arises from West London…Alun Walker, ex Edinburgh and long term Ealing legend delivered a Man of the Match performance against a depleted Saracens team this weekend
It wasn’t all good news though…few things are inevitable in life apart from death, taxes and a Duncy Taylor injury
Scotland Sevens Star Harvey Elms has thrown up a pretty sweet highlights reel onto YouTube, check it out below
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