Duhan van der Merwe try seals bittersweet victory for Edinburgh while Benetton win again

Planet Rugby
Duhan van der Merwe in action for Edinburgh.

Duhan van der Merwe in action for Edinburgh.

Edinburgh came from behind to claim a 19-14 victory over Glasgow Warriors in the United Rugby Championship but fell short in their quest to lift the 1872 Cup.

The hosts at Murrayfield were battling to overcome a 12-point deficit from the reverse fixture between the Scottish sides, which took place at Scotstoun last Friday.

However, they came up short as Glasgow retain the prized silverware, with hooker Johnny Matthews and centre Stafford McDowall scoring their tries on Saturday.

Matt Currie and Duhan van der Merwe went over for Edinburgh as they celebrated a URC victory, with Ben Healy kicking three penalty goals that proved decisive.

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Trailing 22-10 from the first leg eight days earlier, the home team needed to win by 13 points or more at Murrayfield to lift the silverware.

But they never really looked like winning by that margin in a game which, despite being played in bitterly cold conditions, attracted a record crowd for a Scottish club rugby fixture of 37,881.

After beginning with a high-tempo attack in which Tom Jordan came close to breaking through, Glasgow took an early lead when Edinburgh offended and the penalty was sent to touch deep inside the home 22.

Matthews, always a potent threat from such situations, finished off from the lineout maul and George Horne added the conversion.

Edinburgh hit back thanks initially to Darcy Graham. The winger tapped and ran with a penalty, getting close to the Warriors goal line.

Then, when play went left, Mark Bennett floated a superb pass to his fellow centre Currie, who dived to score in the left corner. Healy was wide with the conversion attempt.

Inside the last five minutes of the half, another Glasgow penalty was sent to the corner.

The lineout drive was held up but Edinburgh offended again and the ball was sent back to touch – only for Matthews’ throw to be ruled not straight.

10 minutes into the second half, a Healy penalty, awarded for a ruck offence, put his team ahead for the first time.

But it did not take long for Glasgow to regain the lead thanks to McDowall, who powered past three defenders before stretching out to reach the line.

Horne added the two points to put his team 14-8 ahead but with quarter of an hour left Healy halved the deficit with his second penalty of the day.

Then, inside the final 10 minutes, Graham robbed Glasgow of the ball inside his own 22 and broke before passing to Van der Merwe.

The winger just had the stamina to reach the line before the defence closed him down, putting his team 16-14 ahead.

Healy’s conversion attempt missed but with time running out he made it 19-14 with another penalty before Edinburgh replacement Marshall Sykes was yellow-carded for foul play in the last minute.

Benetton make it win number seven

Earlier, Benetton saw off Zebre Parma 36-14 in the United Rugby Championship to record an eighth successive win in the Italian derby.

The hosts ran in six tries at the Stadio Monigo with Gianmarco Lucchesi, Alessandro Garbisi, Ignacio Mendy, Alessandro Izekor, Sebastian Negri and Tomas Albornoz crossing.

Zebre, beaten 31-24 at home by Benetton last weekend, replied with tries from skipper Geronimo Prisciantelli and Luca Bigi.

This was Benetton’s seventh win of the league campaign in an impressive start to their season while Zebre have just one win and a draw to show for their efforts.

READ MORE: Ireland stars return for Munster in the United Rugby Championship while Wales duo bring up 100

Benetton Treviso Duhan van der Merwe

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