Glasgow and Edinburgh made a winning return after the international break, the ninth occasion in the last 25 rounds of the URC that both Scottish sides have won on the same weekend.

The Warriors edged past bogey team Scarlets at Scotstoun while Edinburgh racked up 50 points against Benetton for just the second time.

Here is this week's stats round-up.

Glasgow Warriors

This was the 10th time that Glasgow have faced Scarlets at Scotstoun in the URC regular season and the Warriors haven’t collected a try bonus point in any of those fixtures.

With Glasgow’s backs being held try-less for the first time in their last 17 games, there was the rare sight of a penalty goal being kicked – the first of the season, 545 minutes into the campaign.

The victory took Stafford McDowall’s win percentage as captain of Glasgow, Scotland and Scotland ‘A’ to 86%.

Try 1: Johnny Matthews

His score in the 35th minute moved him level with Niko Matawalu for two tallies:

  • 44 total tries – fourth on the Warriors’ all-time list.
  • 26 tries at Scotstoun – the most at that venue

Matthews also collected his sixth Player of the Match (PotM) award.

Johnny Matthews won another Player of the Match awardJohnny Matthews won another Player of the Match award (Image: SNS)

Most PotMs among the current squad:

  • 9 – Sione Tuipulotu
  • 8 – George Horne
  • 7 – Adam Hastings
  • 6 – Matt Fagerson, Johnny Matthews, Duncan Weir
  • 5 – Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey, Huw Jones

Try 2: Henco Venter

With scores in back-to-back matches for the first time in his career, he is officially moving into try machine territory.

Since breaking his Warriors’ duck in the URC quarter-final against Stormers last season, he averages a try scored for every 64 minutes played.

Throughout the rest of his top-level career with Glasgow, the Sharks and the Cheetahs, he averaged a try every 1,196 minutes.

Penalty 1: Duncan Weir

He averages a penalty for every 193 minutes played under Franco Smith. 

Duncan Weir kicked the winning penalty for GlasgowDuncan Weir kicked the winning penalty for Glasgow (Image: SNS)

That is compared to a penalty for every 40 minutes played during the rest of his Glasgow career.

Edinburgh Rugby

The 33 points conceded by Edinburgh were the most they have given up while still winning a URC fixture since they beat Leinster 40-34 in February 2004.

Mosese Tuipulotu was absolutely key to Edinburgh’s performance in attack, getting his hands on the ball 26 times with an even split of 13 carries and 13 passes.

Freddy Douglas became the latest Edinburgh debutant, two weeks after making his Scotland bow. 

Freddy Douglas made his Edinburgh debut off the benchFreddy Douglas made his Edinburgh debut off the bench (Image: SNS)

At 19 years, six months and 17 days old, he only needs to look at his side’s starting back-row to see where a teenage debut can lead:

  • Jamie Ritchie – first appearance aged 18 years, two months, 16 days
  • Magnus Bradbury – first appearance aged 19 years, two months, nine days
  • Ben Muncaster – first appearance aged 19 years, six months, ten days
  • 90% of the minutes that Ben Healy has played so far this season (for Edinburgh and Scotland ‘A’) have been outside scrum halves named Ben.

Try 1: Duhan van der Merwe

Touched down with 65.32 seconds on the clock. This is only the second fastest try of his career though.

Duhan van der Merwe got Edinburgh off to a flying startDuhan van der Merwe got Edinburgh off to a flying start (Image: SNS)

His very first try for Edinburgh, against Krasny Yar at Murrayfield, was marginally quicker at 63.65 seconds.

Try 2: Ben Muncaster

He ended the match as the top try scorer in the URC for the 2024/25 season with five, alongside Glasgow’s Johnny Matthews.

Try 3: Magnus Bradbury

925 days had elapsed since his last try for Edinburgh, which came against Glasgow at Murrayfield in May 2022.

Try 4: Magnus Bradbury

As noted in the stats round-up for week four when Ben Muncaster bagged a try double: “His senior back row colleagues (Magnus Bradbury, Luke Crosbie, Jamie Ritchie and Hamish Watson) have played a combined 495 matches for the club without any of them ever scoring two tries in the same game.”

Magnus Bradbury scored twice against BenettonMagnus Bradbury scored twice against Benetton (Image: SNS)

It would appear Bradbury took that personally!

Try 5: Paul Hill

His first try for Edinburgh.

Paul Hill showed a good turn of pace to score his maiden Edinburgh tryPaul Hill showed a good turn of pace to score his maiden Edinburgh try (Image: SNS)

He only notched four tries in 187 games for his previous club, Northampton, averaging a score for every 1,974 minutes played so this one might be a bit of a collector’s item.

Try 6: Ali Price

His last seven tries for Edinburgh or Glasgow have been scored at home, which immediately followed a run of seven tries for the Warriors that were all scored at away venues.

Try 7: Ben Muncaster

His brace, added to the same from Bradbury, mean that Edinburgh’s back rows have scored seven tries in the league so far this season, already more than the six they notched in the URC during 2023/24.

Penalty 1: Ben Healy

The first penalty he has kicked this season. During the 2023/24 campaign he booted pens in 16 of the 18 URC games he played for Edinburgh.