Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill was immensely proud of his side’s efforts with 14 men as they beat high-flying Glasgow on Saturday.
The 18-17 win saw Edinburgh prevail despite being a man down for 75 minutes after prop Simon Berghan was red carded for a stamp at a ruck.
But somehow the Murryafield hosts won the opening 1872 Cup clash and that has left head coach Cockerill delighted ahead of Christmas Day.
“It’s up there with anything I’ve ever been involved with,” he told Edinburgh’s website.
“Firstly, the players deserve the credit because they played exceptionally well under some adversity. They’ve worked really hard since pre-season. We’ve tried to become tougher to play against and I think we showed that this evening.
“At half-time, we just said: let’s stay in the battle – let’s keep doing our job as well as we can. The score was sort of irrelevant at that point, we just needed to keep our heads down.”
Despite the importance of the 1872 Cup and its rivalry, Cockerill was more concerned with putting four points on the board, saying: “I’m delighted to get the four points. I know there is obviously a lot of stuff around the derby and the 1872 Cup, but to get the four points was really important.
“The players had a choice. They had an excuse to lose, and it could have gone either way, but if we had lost by four points I would have been just as proud of the group. Because after five minutes, you would have probably thought we would be struggling.
“We stayed in the battle, and if you stay in the battle you have opportunities to win the game. Thankfully we did so. It wasn’t a pretty game, but I’m so delighted with the effort, spirit and passion that the players showed tonight.
“I can’t coach the players to have the will to do what they did tonight – so they should take all the credit tonight.”
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