On Top Of The Moon’s Weegie of the Match – Jonny Gray. The stand out among the Warriors by a distance. Phenomenal work rate from the young man who now has made over 500 tackles and only missed 11 in his club career.
BACKS
Stuart Hogg – 5
Another week, another fairly anonymous performance from one of Glasgow’s main strike runners. Edinburgh starved the Warriors back 3 of possession and nullified their threat.
Taqele Naiyarovoro – 5
No space and no time on the ball – as with last week partly due to a stifling Edinburgh defence and partly due to Glasgow’s failure to execute basic handling skills in the backs.
Mark Bennett – 7
The highlight in a fairly uninspiring performance by the Warriors backline. His 2nd try in a week was the 250th of the Townsend era and really ought to have been the first of many in the game.
Peter Horne – 5
Peripheral to the game for much of the night as the forwards attempted to take charge. Worrying looking injury late on and his cool head was missed when white line fever took over at the death.
Sean Lamont – 5
Came looking for work to support the forwards but his error count was too high – his charged down kick was symptomatic of the lack of speed of thought among the Glasgow backs.
Duncan Weir – 5
Tried to mix his game up – to good effect at times – but his kicking (which should be his bread and butter) was variable at best and cost the Warriors field position on too many occasions.
Ali Price – 6
Worked hard to get himself to the breakdown but needed to dictate to his forwards more (granted not an easy thing to do in just his 3rd start). Showed plenty of grit and effort and hopefully Mike Blair can polish up his game management.
FORWARDS
Gordon Reid – 7
A big upgrade at the scrum from Ryan Grant’s performance last week and he matched Willem Nel blow for blow. Surely confirmed now as Glasgow’s first choice loosehead and backup to Al Dickinson for the national squad?
Fraser Brown – 6
Much improved in the loose where he played like an auxiliary openside flanker, evening the odds against the Edinburgh back row. Still some serious struggles at the lineout though which cost the Warriors good possession.
Zander Fagerson – 7
There are not many players who are propping at this level at just 19 – and flourishing. His scrummaging is improving with every game and he has an impressive workrate on both sides of the ball.
Greg Peterson – 6
It sometimes feels like he should be making more ground given his size but no-one could question his attitude on Saturday evening. His contribution to a much improved scrum shouldn’t be underestimated either.
Jonny Gray – 9
His workrate put everyone else’s in the shade and, for the first half at least, he dominated the lineout. Captaincy would only be a 5 at best though as Glasgow failed to build a lead when in almost complete control and then seemed directionless late on.
Ryan Wilson – 6
He seems like someone trying to play a role (number 6 enforcer) rather than his natural game (skillful carrying 8). He also seems to be an accident waiting to happen – Glasgow need a bit more Bruce Wayne and a bit less Batman.
Chris Fusaro – 7
Massive turnaround from the 1st leg where he was ineffective. Some good carries, decent hits and, most crucially, some real pressure on the ball at the breakdown.
Josh Strauss – 6
Did a good job of getting Glasgow on the front foot for the short time he was on the pitch. The Warriors missed his aggressive carrying and leadership when he departed.
SUBSTITUTES
Shalva Mamukashvili– tried to get himself involved but made a couple of careless errors.
Ryan Grant – maybe a bit unfortunate with a couple of decisions in the scrum but he’s going to need to work hard to get the refs back on his side.
Sila Puafisi – his physicality seemed like just what Glasgow would need to break the gain line late on but he only got on the ball a couple of times.
Leone Nakarawa – on in the back row but couldn’t really get his offloading game going in the face of some resolute Embra defence.
Hugh Blake – a very smart player. Too smart for Mr. Fitzgibbon unfortunately…
Grayson Hart – flung himself bravely into every contact but maybe could have got his head up a bit to find the space at the end of the game.
Peter Murchie – touched the ball precisely 0 times in 7 minutes.
Lee Jones – even more disturbingly he didn’t touch the ball at all despite playing for almost half an hour!
For Edinburgh player ratings click here
For the avoidance of doubt:
10 – DC v the Lions, 2nd Test 2005
9 – excellent
8 – very good
7 – good
6 – decent
5 – pass marks
4 – poor
3 – very poor
2 – waste of space
1 – waste of oxygen
0 – comatose
Picture as ever courtesy of Adrian Henry. Visit Rugby People for more of Adrian’s fine work.
On Top Of The Moon 