GLASGOW Warriors will take a healthy 13-point lead into the second leg of the 1872 Cup after a deserved win over Edinburgh yesterday. More importantly, the three-try victory has returned them to winning ways in the PRO12 after three consecutive defeats, and they are now back within touching distance of the play-off places.

Junior Bulumakau opened the visitors’ account at the national stadium with barely a minute played after Edinburgh full-back Blair Kinghorn had fumbled a kick ahead from Alex Dunbar, and later tries came from Josh Strauss and Dunbar himself. Finn Russell added ten points with the boot, including his first ever drop goal, while the home team’s points all came from ex-Warrior Duncan Weir.

The league table has shown over the last few years that Glasgow are a better team than Edinburgh over the course of the season, but that superiority has not always been obvious in the derbies, with the capital team winning the previous three. “We’re very pleased to have won - it’s been a long time coming,” coach Gregor Townsend said. “We’d lost the last three, so winning the fourth was very good.

“Our control in defence was really good. Nobody was flying out of the line and we were holding our shape really well. Somebody said there were 30 phases in Alex’s try - there was a lot of patience there to get the breakthrough.

“It also took a bit of skill and a couple of offloads, which was great to see. Someone could have got frustrated and tried to go on their own.

“I thought we defended really well throughout the game and especially in the last 10 seconds to deny Edinburgh a try. They had a lot of possession and were a man up for 10 minutes.”

That 10-minute spell came in the first half when Glasgow prop Alex Allan was sinbinned for offending at a ruck, and Townsend was particularly impressed with the way his team had defended when they were a man down. “The turning point for us was the yellow card,” the coach added. “We really dug deep then and played our best rugby of the game.

“Up front, we carried well, got our lineout drive going, went through the phases and cause them problems. Then we were getting penalties and we took confidence into the second half.”

After losing that very early score, Edinburgh went in front through the first two of Weir’s penalties, but they were down 15-6 at half-time thanks to the Strauss try and Russell’s conversion and penalty. In the second half Russell added that drop goal after the ball had fallen off the tee as he lined up to take a penalty, and although Weir kept his side’s hopes alive for a time, Dunbar’s score killed off their chances of a fightback.

The only downside for Townsend was his team’s failure to score a fourth try and claim a bonus point. “That's something we need to work in,” he added. “There were a lot of good things today, but in the last 20 minutes when it looked like we were on the front foot we should have converted opportunities.

“Once you've scored that third try, like last week [against Racing 92 in the Champions Cup] you want to get back down there and score again. We have to set ourselves higher standards.”

The Warriors fly out to Italy at the weekend for their last league game of the year, against Treviso. Unlike in previous years, the second leg of the 1872 Cup will not be played until the end of the regular season.

Scorers: Edinburgh: Pens: Weir 4.

Glasgow: Tries: Bulumakau, Strauss, Dunbar. Cons: Russell 2. Pen: Russell. Drop goal: Russell.

Edinburgh: B Kinghorn; D Hoyland, C Dean, P Burleigh (G Bryce 73), T Brown; D Weir (J Tovey 68), S Hidalgo-Clyne (S Kennedy 68); A Dickinson (A Dell 33), R Ford (S McInally 68), S Berghan, B Toolis, G Gilchrist (F McKenzie 58), M Bradbury, H Watson, C du Preez (V Mata 59). Unused substitute: M McCallum.

Glasgow Warriors: S Hogg; J Bulumakau, M Bennett, A Dunbar, L Jones (S Lamont 59); F Russell, H Pyrgos (A Price 68); A Allan, F Brown (P MacArthur 56), Z Fagerson (S Puafisi 50), B Alainu’uese, J Gray, R Harley, S Favaro (C Fusaro 48), J Strauss (A Ashe 60). Unused substitutes: R Grant, N Grigg.

Referee: I Davies (Wales). Attendance: 21,036.