Twelve points is a big ask to make up on aggregate if they are to wrestle the cup back from Glasgow, and Seb Stephen’s late try for the Warriors at Hampden could prove to be a critical moment in the tie.
“I’m proud of the boys but we need to do more when we’ve got ball,” Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt told BBC Scotland.
“I don’t think it’ll be too difficult [to motivate the boys]. The guys are used to coming back in the second game at home. It’s quite a big deficit, when you look at derbies, to make up. That’s why that last try hurt us a bit.
“But we’ll be motivated to get a good win and make sure we contest the 1872 Cup.”
For the past two season, Warriors have been in the curious situation of lifting the trophy at Murrayfield after being on the end of a second-leg defeat.
Now the aim is to deliver the win that would allow them to celebrate, and round-off 2025, in style.
“It’s massive. It is the 1872, it is the derby, it is bragging rights, all that, but first and foremost it’s league points,” Glasgow back-row Rory Darge told BBC Scotland.
“We’ve learnt over the last few years that you come to the end of the season and you can look back on the ones that you’ve not won and you can rue them.
“Every league point counts. So it’s massive for us.”
