Gregor Townsend says the 1872 Cup is even more precious to Glasgow Warriors this year as they seek to regain the trophy.

Warriors have not won the cup since the 2013/14 season, with Edinburgh enjoying success over the last two years.

Glasgow had previously enjoyed a stranglehold on the competition, winning the cup five years in a row from 2009-10.

"You play for a trophy and we all get motivated by shiny silver things," Townsend said.

"This is obviously just over two games but it's of real importance to us and even more so our supporters.

"Glasgow and Edinburgh have big rivalry as cities and here you get to play it out in a sporting form.

"It is even more precious, that bit of silverware, because we haven't had it for the last couple of seasons. We'd love to get it back but we know we have to play well in both legs to win it."

Unlike previous years, the two 1872 Cup fixtures are intentionally split over five months, meaning the winner will not be crowned until May.

Despite the second leg previously falling around New Year, when Celtic and Rangers will meet in the Scottish Premiership this year, Townsend does not believe the fixture has been a victim of policing issues.

"It's a Pro12 initiative," he said, shrugging off the idea.

"They have big weekends with the Welsh teams playing against each other so they wanted to spread that out throughout the season because a lot of derbies get played over Christmas and New Year.

"It means that last round of games is pretty exciting and should be a sell out".

He added: "It has been split over five months in the past because we've had a game cancelled and played Edinburgh at the end of the season.

"It's good that we know that game is likely to be in better weather, May is usually a good time to play rugby.

"It adds a bit of different interest at the end of the season - hopefully we'll both be in the mix for Europe or play-off places.

"And now it means the focus is just on this one fixture and I'm hoping there will be a really big crowd at Murrayfield."