Well on their way to being crowned the champions of Scotland, the Edinburgh players believe their final game of 2008 can be the beginning of a charge to more significant honours.

With Glasgow the only competition for the David Lloyd 1872 Cup, winning it on Friday, as they surely will, does not count for much and the confidence from their 39-6 victory in the first game of the derby double-header should be far more significant.

It has been a frustrating season for Edinburgh. They have shown regularly that they have the players capable of carving any side open, but until the weekend their capacity to squander the fruits of their labour was rivalled only by City investment bankers.

Suddenly they clicked, players started to support the runners and the men with the ball started to pass it even when they could see the tryline. Four tries followed, only the second try bonus of the season, and Glasgow were humiliated.

While the crowd at 12,532 was short of the 20,000 the SRU had talked about in its more optimistic moments, it was still a record for a Magners League game in Scotland and about double the same fixture last season, suggesting it was doing something right. The real test, however, will come at the return match at Firhill on Friday when the free ticket offer from the autumn internationals does not apply.

For the Edinburgh players, it was a chance to put in a show and make sure those in the crowd watching the team live for the first time keep coming back.

“We are very happy with the way the game went,” Jim Hamilton, the lock whose charges from the base of the ruck played a big part in opening the Glasgow defence, said. “The way the boys performed, particularly after losing our last two European games against Wasps, is something that we can be happy about. We know it is only half a job done and Glasgow will be different at home, but we’re pleased with the way we played.”

The aspect that gave them most confidence was that for the first time this season they were clinical in taking their chances. From the time Mike Blair latched on to a loose pass from Dan Parks to give them a first-half lead, they were ruthless in exploiting their half-chances and if they build on that, Hamilton believes that they are still in a position to challenge for the Magners League title.

“We played some fantastic rugby, probably the best that I have been involved in with this team,” he said. “For us, the league is the big competition and we want to do better than last year. I am not one to sit and look at the league until much later in the season but I cannot believe how close it is and a win next time would cement us at the top coming into another home game the week afterwards. We come into our own after Christmas and if we can carry on that form we can give the fans and everybody who has worked hard for the club something to cheer at the end of the season.”

The level of Edinburgh’s domination also ends a lot of the debate about international places, in particular Phil Godman, who kicked 19 points — five penalties, two conversions and he didn’t miss until long after the result was settled — and looked like an international fly half while Parks looked nervy, indecisive and short on confidence. Blair, Simon Webster, Hugo Southwell and Ben Cairns got the tries, while all Glasgow could manage were two Parks penalties.