Glasgow see off Edinburgh to secure home PRO14 semi-final

Glasgow sealed a home Guinness PRO14 semi-final in emphatic fashion with a 34-10 derby victory which ended Edinburgh’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s Heineken Champions Cup.

Sam Johnson and Ali Price scored in a dominant first-half display from the hosts at Scotstoun and Niko Matawalu crossed to put the game out of sight on the hour mark after a rare spell of pressure from Edinburgh.

Tommy Seymour’s breakaway try earned the bonus point before Duhan Van Der Merwe notched a consolation try.

A bonus-point victory for Treviso had snuffed out Edinburgh’s chances of third spot and a place in the knockout stages in the afternoon before they slipped into fifth spot when Scarlets gained two bonus points from a late 34-32 defeat by Dragons. That left Edinburgh needing two points to claim a Heineken Champions Cup qualification play-off against Ospreys.

But with second-placed Munster hosting Connacht at the same time as the Scottish pair kicked off, Glasgow could leave nothing to chance and they comfortably retained top spot in Conference A while consigning Edinburgh to the European Challenge Cup.

Glasgow will now host either Ulster or Connacht in three weeks’ time.

Warriors brushed off the late loss of Jonny Gray to illness and began with purpose as Adam Hastings kicked his first three points inside the third minute. The opening try came five minutes later when Johnson cut inside Darcy Graham to cross following Niko Matawalu’s offload.

Simon Hickey’s penalty got Edinburgh off the mark but they lost full-back Graham to injury and Warriors broke clear to extend their lead in the 20th minute. The hosts turned over the ball near the halfway line and Stuart Hogg weaved his way through several players to set up Price to run for the line.

Hastings added another easy conversion and a penalty and Warriors comfortably repelled a late push from Edinburgh before the interval.

A late tackle from Scott Cummings around the 50-minute mark allowed Edinburgh to finally put some pressure on as they kicked into touch to set up a line-out maul.

Glasgow survived but Edinburgh kept up the pressure until Hastings put Van Der Merwe just into touch before the winger crossed.

Warriors soon worked their way up the park and Hastings’ long pass set up Matawalu to brush off the challenge of Henry Pyrgos and go over on the left flank.

The Edinburgh scrum-half and then skipper Stuart McInally left the field on stretchers and the visitors’ miserable end to the season got even worse with four minutes left when good skill and a long kick from George Horne allowed Hogg to race forward and set up Seymour.

Charlie Shiel set up Van Der Merwe two minutes later for the consolation.