Edinburgh 3-21 Glasgow Warriors

A brace of tries from BKT Player of the Match, Jamie Dobie, and a score from George Horne ensured the trophy would be returning along the M8 to Scotstoun, the Warriors earning a first win in the capital since 2022.

Chasing a 12-point deficit from the first leg at Hampden Park, it was the home side who struck first under the grey skies of the capital. Cammy Scott made no mistake when presented with a shot at goal from 35 metres out, the fly-half giving his side a 3-0 lead with five minutes played.

Despite the early concession, the Warriors were looking the more dangerous with ball in hand as both sides probed for the opening try. Matt Fagerson’s power in the carry almost took the blindside over the whitewash, whilst Stafford McDowall’s running lines were stretching the hosts time and again.

Edinburgh were growing into the game themselves, however, with the men from the west needing to be sharp in defence. A superbly-timed turnover from Fagerson shut down a first foray into the Glasgow 22, before Kyle Steyn and Ollie Smith combined to usher Lewis Wells into touch.

With the clock ticking past the half-hour mark, though, it was the Warriors who struck. Faced with a blitzing Edinburgh defence, Hastings cooly stepped back inside before delivering an inch-perfect cross-field kick into the arms of Dobie. The winger applied the finish the kick deserved, Hastings converting from out wide to give the Warriors a 7-3 lead.

Dobie then had to show his defensive prowess moments later, scampering back to gather a Ben Vellacott grubber kick in behind before beating three defenders under his own posts to clear. It would prove crucial in preserving Glasgow’s half-time advantage, Smith calmly defusing a final Edinburgh attack before the whistle for the interval.

The game continued in the same vein as the second half got underway, with neither side willing to give an inch under the Murrayfield floodlights. Edinburgh would come the closest in the first 10 minutes after the restart, only to see a close-range maul following the sin-binning of Angus Fraser foiled by the remainder of the Glasgow pack.

Still balanced on a knife-edge, the two defences refused to yield. Neither side could find a way through as the sin-bin period expired, the Glasgow bench providing fresh impetus upon their introduction to proceedings.

With 10 minutes to go, the crucial breakthrough came, and it came from a familiar source. Sustained pressure in the shadow of the Edinburgh posts took Franco Smith’s men to within a metre of the whitewash, and when presented with the narrowest of gaps, Horne picked his spot to dive under a pile of bodies and ground the ball for the score. The scrum-half duly applied the conversion to his own score, and the Warriors held a 14-3 lead to move within touching distance of victory.

Touching distance became certain victory with 90 seconds remaining, as Smith’s men silenced the Murrayfield crowd for good. Turnover ball saw the ball chipped in behind for the onrushing Dobie, the winger outstripping the covering defence to touch down for his second – and Glasgow’s third – try of the afternoon. Dan Lancaster became the third Warrior to land a conversion as he added the extras impressively from the touchline, the final whistle sounding soon afterwards to herald the victorious Warriors.

An unbeaten December to close out 2025, not to mention a fourth successive 1872 Cup series victory – Smith’s men will look to kick-off 2026 in similar fashion in just a week’s time, as Zebre Parma act as Glasgow’s first-footers of the New Year.