Edinburgh 12-25 Glasgow: Gregor Townsend happy with 'big performance'

Glasgow were the more clinical side in a scrappy game at Murrayfield

Gregor Townsend was delighted Glasgow Warriors were able to translate their recent European form into Pro12 points with a derby win in Edinburgh.

Warriors ended a run of three successive league defeats with a 25-12 victory at Murrayfield.

However, spirits had been boosted with back-to-back successes against Racing 92 in the Champions Cup.

"We can be a lot better but it's great that we've built on those last couple of wins," said head coach Townsend.

"We've not won here in the last two seasons and we needed a big performance."

Junior Bulumakau and Josh Strauss touched down to give the visitors at 15-6 lead at the interval, with Alex Dunbar adding a fine score in the second half, while Edinburgh were restricted to four Duncan Weir penalties.

"Derby games can be physical affairs where the rugby doesn't flow as much," Townsend told BBC Scotland.

"There was some good rugby from both teams though. Good defence. I think we needed about a hundred phases for Alex Dunbar's try!

Bulumakau benefited from a terrible Blair Kinghorn error for the first try but Edinburgh responded well and Glasgow lost Alex Allen to a yellow card before falling 6-5 behind.

"Once we got the man in the sin bin we played our best rugby of the game," said Townsend.

"Scoring early is not always a blessing and Edinburgh had most of the ball and the referee seemed to penalising the defensive side a lot more.

"It was tough for us to get any rhythm and a couple of times we weren't accurate enough.

"Once we got the ball, we looked much better.

"We should have scored a try in the first 10 minutes of the second half when we were really on the front foot.

"It's three tries and we had opportunities to go to four, so there's a fair bit to build on.

"Our forwards played really well, line-out drive and line-out defence was good.

"Brian Alainu'uese and Josh Strauss really got us over the gain line with their ball carrying but we didn't get to the number of phases we normally do."

Tom Brown's 100th Edinburgh appearance ended in defeat

Edinburgh, who had won the last three derbies at Murrayfield, made more turnovers, missed fewer tackles and conceded fewer penalties but could not find a way to cross the line, even in the last act of the game when Viliame Mata ran under the posts only to be held up.

"It's a huge disappointment," said acting head coach Duncan Hodge. "We just couldn't quite get close enough.

"We had possession and territory but couldn't convert it into points

"We didn't get enough quick ball. The ball they had was probably quicker and they made better use of it.

"It didn't seem like there was a lot of space out there for both teams to really attack well.

"The last 15 minutes of the first half was a big turning point. We conceded five or six penalties in a row and they managed to get in front."

Both sides are in Italy at the weekend, with Warriors taking on Treviso and Edinburgh at Zebre.

"We need to pick ourselves up and get some league points on the board," said Hodge. "We've got to learn and move on and today we didn't do that and that upsets us all."