Surely nobody can doubt the character of this Edinburgh side now.
Out-muscled in the first leg of the inter-city derby a week ago, the capital outfit girded themselves superbly to gain sweet revenge over Glasgow, beating their old rivals for the first time in four years and turning round a 10-point deficit to lift the 1872 Cup - which they had last won in 2009 - for good measure.
On the morning's league positions - Glasgow were second in the Guinness PRO12 and Edinburgh ninth - it should have been a cakewalk for the Warriors, However, they spent the entire first half in a low gear, and only upped the pace for a brief period in the second. They had moments of ascendancy, but they were routinely hammered in the tight, and that advantage allowed Edinburgh scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, who must be edging ever closer to Test contention, to turn in a wonderfully inventive and effective display.
Glasgow, frankly, were humbled, especially in the scrum They will rue the loss of the silverware they have held for so long, but the loss of league points will be more keenly felt in the months ahead. On an evening when Edinburgh found new layers to their game, too many seemed to fall away from Glasgow.
On a chill evening in the national stadium, Edinburgh also came close to making a sensational start when Glasgow winger Tommy Seymour allowed a kick from Greig Tonks to bounce once too often, only to see it nicked by the onrushing Dougie Fife. Somehow, the Glasgow defence scrambled back to stop Fife just short of the line, and the danger evaporated when the Edinburgh winger was penalised for holding on.
Clearly, the capital side wanted to put more pace on the ball than they had in the first match at Scotstoun, and Tonks signalled their ambition with a couple of early darting runs. Yet Glasgow were also prepared to live on their wits, and created a decent half-chance with a kick-and-chase manoeuvre by recalled fly-half Finn Russell that carried play up to the Edinburgh 22.
Yet after those nip-and-tuck preliminaries by the backs, it was time for the heavy mob to take control. With 10 minutes on the clock, Glasgow won a scrum near the Edinburgh 22, the pack put in a mighty shove, Edinburgh caved in and Russell stepped up to kick the first points.
Eight minutes later, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne levelled things for Edinburgh with the penalty that brought their first points. By then, Edinburgh had also showed that their earlier concertina scrum had been an aberration, for they were soon matching Glasgow in the set-piece. More than, in fact, for their wheeling tactics harvested two quick penalties, albeit too far out for them to make more impact on the scoreboard.
Yet the next points did fall to Edinburgh, Hidalgo-Clyne kicking his second penalty of the evening after 26 minutes when Dougie Hall was pinged for not rolling away from a tackle. Edinburgh also continued to dominate possession and territory - helped in both regards by their ability to keep hold of the ball more reliably than they had in the first leg.
The pressure was bound to tell, and the Glasgow defence was finally reached just before the half-hour mark. It came when Niko Matawalu's attempted clearance was half-charged down, a play that brought a ruch 15 yards out. From there, the ball was spun right, to where Tonks found Tim Visser with a wonderfully subtle pass. With a blast of gas, Visser scorched through a gap in the Glasgow line and over for a try.
It was a bad blow for Glasgow, but worse was to follow a few minutes later. Going forward, they had looked strangely ponderous from the off, and that shortcoming was exploited when Peter Horne threw too obvious a pass to his right and Visser came steaming up to intercept. Committed to attack, Glasgow had nobody at home in defence, so Visser just kept steaming another 70 yards for his second touchdown.
The 17-point half-time deficit was one measure of Glasgow's pickle; the fact that neither Al Kellock nor Dougie Hall reappeared at the start of the second half was another, their respective places being taken by Leone Nakarawa and Fraser Brown. Presumably there had been a few stern words in the Warriors dressing room as well, for it was obvious from the restart that they had added urgency as well as fresh faces to their game.
Two minute after the interval, Glasgow clawed back some of Edinburgh's lead with a typically clever try by Matawalu. The litte scrum-half had been denied a score in controversial circumstances in the first game when a scoring pass was deemed to have gone forward, but his kick-and-chase down the left touchline had a happier outcome this time, the tv official confirming that he had beaten Jack Cuthbert to the touchdown.
Having been second-best in every area in the first half, Glasgow were suddenly dictating terms. With gaps starting to appear in the Edinburgh defence, they sent Stuart Hogg on to replace Peter Murchie at full-back. Alex Allan and Euan Murray also arrived to bolster the front row, making their presence felt as they harvested a penalty in their very first scrum.
Yet the points refused to pile up for Glasgow, and it was Edinburgh who had the next scoring opportunity, but Hidalgo-Clyne saw his 59th minute penalty attempt fall just short. It might have given Glasgow hope, but the men from the west lacked the resources to do anything more. This morning, they have some soul-searching to do.
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