Edinburgh victorious in Inter-City
Edinburgh: 14 (6) Glasgow Warriors: 9 (0)
After the disappointing - and slightly bizarre - draw in Galway last Friday, Edinburgh got their title show back on the road tonight with a hard-fought win over Glasgow at rain soaked Murrayfield in front of an encouraging crowd of 4342. In the process, they preserved this season's unblemished home record, and went into their first mini-break of the season with a reasonable 3-1-1 record. Not championship form, but not a million miles away either.
And it was international full back Hugo who scored the decisive second half try, in a game that was marred by a serious-looking injury to No 8 Ally Hogg. The win saw the capital side move up to third in the Magners League, tied on 15 points with second placed Ulster, who meet Munster in Cork tomorrow.
From the off, handling was difficult in the wet conditions. But early Edinburgh pressure eventually bore fruit with a Paterson penalty for offside on 15 minutes.
Then a well-weighted chip by Mike Blair into the Glasgow in-goal area saw Sean Marsden just beat Simon Webster to the touchdown.
Former boy band member, Thom Evans, was similarly foiled at the other end, although the move was anyway called back for a forward pass. Much has been said about Evans' pace, but it was Paterson - who has his moments in that department - who beat the Glasgow flier in the foot race.
A Godman drop attempt sailed inches wide of the Glasgow posts before Paterson's second penalty of the game gave Edinburgh a precarious 6-0 half time lead.
And Glasgow started the second period well, with first Gregor slotting a dropped goal, then substitute Parks icing a penalty following a good Henderson run. The international stand off then gave Glasgow the lead with another penalty.
Happily for Edinburgh, though, the mighty Hugo shrugged off the disappointment of being benched after an indifferent display in Galway last weekend. He responded in exemplary fashion by scoring the unconverted try that gave the Gunners an 11-9 lead. The try was conjured up by Blair off a ruck on the Glasgow 22 with five minutes of regulation time left. Blade nipped into space then released Hugo on the left for the score.
And it was the veteran, Duncan "Hodgey" Hodge, who earned his second home "save" in a row, by slotting a drop in injury time to make the game safe, seeing Edinburgh run out 14-9 victors. The old boy's control after his introduction during the fourth quarter was a crucial factor in fighting off the Glasgow challenge.
Next week's free weekend brings a chance for the squad to recharge batteries, and for Lynn Howells to get some concerted work in, before the visit to full-strength Munster on the 13th.
BONUS POINT WATCH: Edinburgh conceded the losers' bonus point to Glasgow in this low-scoring game.
SCORERS:
Edinburgh - Paterson 2P, Hugo 1T, Hodge 1DG
Glasgow - Parks 2P, Gregor 1DG
TEAMS:
Edinburgh: Ben Cairns, Chris Paterson (captain), Marcus Di Rollo, Rob Dewey, Simon Webster, Phil Godman, Mike Blair, Allan Jacobsen, Dougie Hall, Alasdair Dickinson, Dave Duley, Scott Murray, Alasdair Strokosch, Allister Hogg, Ross Rennie.
Replacements: Andrew Kelly, Dave Hewett, Steven Turnbull, David Callam, Greig Laidlaw, Duncan Hodge, Hugo .
Glasgow: Sean Marsden, Hefin O'Hare, Graeme Morrison, Andy Henderson, Thom Evans, Colin Gregor, Graeme Beveridge, Justin Va¿a, Fergus Thomson, Euan Murray, Andy Newman, Alastair Kellock (captain), Andrew Wilson, John Beattie, John Barclay.
Replacements: Scott Lawson, Kevin Tkachuk, Dan Turner, Donnie Macfadyen, Scott Barrow, Dan Parks