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Danny Wilson hopes high-flying Scottish pair Glasgow and Edinburgh can put on an entertaining spectacle in the first leg of their 1872 Cup showdown at Scotstoun on Monday.
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Both sides sit in the top five ahead in the United Rugby Championship table and both are going into the first inter-city derby of the season on the back of big results against English sides in European competition, with Warriors having beaten Exeter last weekend and Edinburgh defeating Saracens a fortnight ago.
Glasgow head coach Wilson said: “It’s two sides in form at the moment who have had some good results and performances, so it makes for an exciting encounter. All being well, it should be a good game of rugby.
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“Edinburgh are a good side and they’re in a rich vein of form with a good win over Saracens in their last game. They’re playing some good stuff. Mike (Blair) has a style he wants to play and he’s definitely brought that to Edinburgh.
“The boys there seem to be buying into it and they’re getting on a bit of a roll so they’ll be big opposition for us. It’s exciting when you’ve got two Scottish sides in form facing each other. It’s good for Scottish rugby and it’s good for (national team coach) Gregor Townsend.
“It always makes for an exciting occasion where you see the best of those Scotland internationalists.”
Wilson – who has made just one change to the side that started against Exeter – believes his side are going into the two matches against Edinburgh in good fettle after impressive back-to-back displays in the Champions Cup.
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He said: “We’ve had some good wins this season and played some good rugby but in the last two weeks, to go against two giants of the game in Europe and get a point away to La Rochelle and beat a fully-loaded Exeter is massive.
“We’re in a good place but the game moves on very quickly and we’ve got to prove we can do it the very next week in a derby.”
Wilson rued the fact Scotstoun will not be full to capacity after the Scottish Government last week imposed restrictions of 500 supporters on all outdoor sporting events.
He said: “The only disappointment is we’re not playing in front of a packed house. It’s very frustrating.
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“I feel for the supporters because these are the games they want to go to, especially at this time of year. They’re the games we want them at because they can make the difference.
“We saw it last week when the crowd certainly played a part in a big win against Exeter. It’s just a shame they won’t be there, but Edinburgh won’t have their crowd next week. It’s disappointing but we’ve got to get on with it.”
