A strange afternoon ended with Glasgow Warriors re-establishing some authority in terms of derby relations, but for all that they deserved their win the margin of victory flattered them at Scotstoun yesterday.

After five defeats in the previous six Inter-City encounters, it was a much needed victory, the way in which a 14-man Edinburgh side had beaten them the previous week having raised questions about their fortitude given the contrast between their previous unbeaten record in the Pro14 and their four successive defeats in the European Champions Cup this season.

“It wasn’t about being flash tonight. We wanted to earn a little respect back, we wanted to see some resolve and I think we did that,” said their head coach Dave Rennie. “I thought we did a real good job up front, set piece, played the game at the right end of the field, then clicked the points on to add a bit of pressure forcing them to play from a long way out. Overall I thought the decision making was better than it was the other day and we definitely showed more back bone.”

“There were a lot more positives, mostly about attitude. Mostly we talked about how the conditions were going to be really difficult. We expected a lot or rain and a lot of wind so I am happy with the attitude and sometimes you just have to come out with a result and it’s not often you play a game where the opposition end up with nil so I am happy with our defensive effort.”

The first half, which contained a solitary score, ended two minutes early due to an evacuation of the stadium and the second had been extended into it’s second minute before a try was finally produced, both sides having failed to keep their composure on the rare occasions that clearcut opportunities were created.

The tone for the afternoon had been set from the opening exchanges when Edinburgh tried something elaborate, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne shaping to take the kick off then throwing the ball to Jaco Van Der Walt who did not propel it the requisite 10 metres, only for Glasgow winger Niko Matawalu to throw away the advantage his team would have had by unnecessarily competing for the ball and knocking it on.

There were to be many, many more of those as the match unfolded, Hamish Watson the next offender after his side had played through a lot of phases without making much in the way of forward progress.

It was to be a particularly frustrating afternoon for the Scotland flanker who was penalised soon afterwards when he felt he had been legally contesting possession with Jonny Gray at a ruck, allowing Finn Russell to register the only points of the first half.

There was a bit of ‘Grand, old Duke of York’ to the way the half ended, some of those in the capacity 7351 crowd reporting that after the initial announcement telling them to leave, they were then held up on stairwells in the main stand, before being told they could go back into the stadium, only for a more persistent tannoy announcement to insist on their departure.

However, the extended break in play allowed the coaches to reinforce messages and Rennie was largely satisfied with the way his men responded.

“For about 5 minutes were were a little bit manic, taking quick throw ins and that type of thing, going but at 9-0 up the pressure was on Edinburgh, they were the ones who had to chase the game and I thought we controlled the last 12/15 minutes pretty well,” he reckoned.

That was just about a fair summing up of proceedings, Russell having doubled the lead when the Edinburgh backs were caught offside early in the second half and extended it further as a result of two more Watson infringements.

Their late try was meanwhile a direct consequence of their opponents forcing the game in seeking to salvage a bonus point from it, Jaco Van Der Walt having to fall on the ball behind his line after a do-or-die bid to run the ball from their own line had resulted in it falling loose.

From the resultant scrum, George Horne darted left, down the blind-side, then fired a miss pass to Lee Jones which let the winger squeeze into the corner for a try that Russell was unable to convert.

The first period having ended unusually with that false alarm, however, the second ended in fairly silly fashion as Glasgow’s replacement flanker Chris Fusaro unnecessarily goaded one of his opponents by tapping him on the head as the try was given, leading Edinburgh’s club captain Fraser McKenzie to barge him in the back, sparking a flare up of the traditional rugby kind.