Saturday Round-Up

Edinburgh secure 1872 Cup

Edinburgh were able to cause a major upset in Murrayfield last night as they defeated Glasgow 20-8 to secure the 1872 Cup. After losing to Glasgow 16-6 last weekend Edinburgh knew that they faced a difficult task in securing the 1872 Cup but against all odds they were able to secure the cup in a 26-24 aggregate win and end their losing streak of six games. Glasgow coach Gregor Townsend will be bitterly disappointed with the defeat having known that a win would of put them back to the top of the Pro12. Having lost the first game by 10 points last weekend Edinburgh knew they needed a good start to the game if they were going to secure the 1872 Cup. Finn Russell gave his side an early lead with a penalty but after that it was all Edinburgh. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne who was excellent from the boot all night put them into a 6-3 lead with two penalties and that was followed up by Tim Visser who was making his return to the side going over the whitewash twice to give his side a 20-3 lead. Glasgow had a lot of work to do in the second half and got off to the best possible start with Niko Matawalu going over in the first minute of the second half. Russell missed the conversion which in the end proved to be a costly miss. Hidalgo-Clyne missed two penalties to increase his sides lead but it mattered little as Edinburgh held out for a 20-8 win and secure the 1872 Cup for the first time in six years.

Saints secure bonus point win over Falcons

Northampton stretched their lead at the top of the Aviva Premiership in a high scoring affair at Franklin Gardens in a 39-31 over the Newcastle Falcons. Jim Mallinder’s side got off to a flying start with Stephen Myler going over while also kicking a penalty to give his side a 10 point lead. However the Falcons who have performed well against the big sides in the league this year responded with Chris Harris going over and Catterick drawing the sides level with two difficult kicks. However the reigning champions were able to go up a gear and scored three tries without reply with George Pisi, Calum Clark and penalty try giving the Saints a 32-10 lead. With 20 minutes left the game was good as over only for the Falcons to give themselves hope of a huge upset with McGuigan and Alex Tait scoring two tries in three minutes to make it 32-24 with 15 minutes left in the game and the Falcons were right back in the game. Any hope they had of securing a famous win was ended with Luther Burrell collecting his own kick and touching down to seal the win for the Saints. Richard Mayhew was able to secure a four-try bonus point for the Falcons with a try late on but that was as good as it got with the Saints extending their lead over Bath to six points with Mike Ford’s side playing Leicester Tigers on Sunday.