15. Ruaridh Jackson – 6 out of 10
Safe under the high ball, lost possession in contact in the opening quarter but generally reliable enough. Found himself in a promising position with three minutes to go, but ended up being shepherded away from his support and fumbling possession – which kind of summed up the whole match.
14. Lee Jones– 6
Scuttled over in the corner at the very end to put a pleasing sheen on what was otherwise a very frustrating afternoon for all the wingers.
13. Nick Grigg – 8
His pace, power and low centre of gravity makes him very difficult to stop and he bounced through four tackles in a crowded midfield just before half-time to build a promising attacking platform, only a slack Warriors penalty meant the centre’s hard work was for nothing. Every time he is knocked down he bounces back up a like supercharged Duracell rabbit.
12. Alex Dunbar – 6
Powerful early burst from first phase ball looked to set the tone but the home team failed to build on that during a scrappy and disjointed first half.
11. Niko Matawalu – 7
Worked harder and harder to try and spark something as the game wore on – regularly coming in off his wing to look for work – but it just wasn’t quite clicking for him.
10. Finn Russell – 7
Kicked pretty well from hand and managed to prize open a few half chances, but his big contribution was keeping the scoreboard ticking over with four successful penalties from four attempts, which meant Edinburgh were always playing catch-up.
9. Ali Price – 6
Lucky that Gilchrist’s charge down of a sloppy clearance kick in the first half bounced favourably and was tidied up by Russell. His desire to move the ball at each and every opportunity does not always work on Warriors’ favour. The old adage about earning the right to go wide is not completely redundant in the professional era.
1. Jamie Bhatti – 8
Not the toughest examination of his scrummaging prowess so far in his fledgling professional career, but you can only beat what is put in front of you and he got the upper-hals of Shield pretty convincingly.
2. Fraser Brown – 7
Line-out throwing seemed to be a struggle but his usual high-ebnergy self during the first half before disappearing at the end of the first half with what appeared to be a head-knock.
3. Zander Fagerson – 9
Official man-of-the-match. Carried well and at the heart of an increasingly dominant all-round forward effort. Completely on top at scrum time.
4. Kiran McDonald – 7
Carried well, some nice handling, made his tackles and got around the park. Looks comfortable at this level.
5. Jonny Gray – 7
This wasn’t a day for the flash boys out wide – it was the big men at the pit-face who got the Warriors’ season back on track.
6. Rob Harley – 7
It wasn’t pretty but the Warriors got the job done.
7. Matt Smith – 7
The fact that Edinburgh conceded 15 penalties to Glasgow’s seven was crucial to the outcome of this game and the young Warriors open side should draw huge confidence from how he fared against the vastly more experienced Hamish Watson – although Richard Cockerill stated afterwards that he felt his team were refereed differently at the breakdown, the fact that
8. Matt Fagerson – 7
It was a real battle between the back-rows and the least experienced of the players involved showed that he has the heart for the fight. The teenager has a big future.