Challenge Cup > Six Nations
Both Edinburgh and Glasgow advance in Challenge Cup, Super 6 Sprint kicks off and Scotland under-18 festival results
WELCOME: another action packed week in the world of Scottish rugby, with both Edinburgh and Glasgow coming good in their European Challenge Cup ties, the return of the Super 6 tournament, more age grade action at the Marcoussis and DAM Health-hosted Under-18 festivals, the Scotland 7s side in Vancouver and plenty of Scots abroad. Crack open that last Easter egg and enjoy!
FALCONS CLIPPED: Glasgow secured a European Challenge Cup quarter final after overcoming a stuffy Newcastle Falcons 27-17 at Kingston Park on Friday night. Although Danny Wilson’s men were favourites going into the match, with the Falcons struggling near the bottom of the English Premiership, the Warriors have been consistently inconsistent this year, and this was a nervy encounter at times. However, Glasgow were the better side on the day, and managed to bring their main strike runners - Steyn, Mackay and Cancilliere - into the match at key moments. The Warriors were three tries to the good after half an hour - firstly try machine hooker Jonny Matthews finishing a flowing move, before Steyn and Mackay joined him on the scoresheet.
Steyn dotted down again later on to put the result beyond doubt, but the Glasgow faithful know improvement is required as the side prepare for their upcoming URC South Africa tour. They will travel to Lyon for their quarter final tie, with the tantalising prospect of an all Scottish semi-final. One step at a time though eh?
Highlights of the match below:
EARLY BATH: Edinburgh followed Glasgow’s lead on Saturday evening, recording an impressive 41-19 victory over Bath at the DAM Health Stadium. Blair’s babes held a narrow lead at half time, before pulling away in the final 20 - with Blair Kinghorn (aka Scottish rugby’s marmite) continuing his crusade against the haters.
Although Bath have struggled for domestic form this season, they were still able to field a more than decent side on the day - look no further than their back row of Underhill, Faletau and Scotland starlet Josh Bayliss - and they made life difficult for the hosts from the off, Underhill crossing twice and Spencer once for three tries in the first half alone. However, Edinburgh stayed in the fight, Kinghorn scoring with a lovely arcing run before setting up Boffelli for his side’s second try in the opening period.
The second half saw the Edinburgh pack turn the screw, led by the inimitable Pierre Schoeman, who burrowed over from close range after further good work from Kinghorn. The floodgates then opened for Boffelli (again) and Bennett to score in the corner, before Connor Boyle burst onto a smart inside ball from replacement hooker Adam McBurney to add Edinburgh’s sixth score, sending the 5000-strong crowd into raptures. They will now play Wasps (again at home) in their quarter final tie - bring it on.
Highlights in all their glory below:
SUPER SIX SPRINT: the much awaited Super 6 Sprint competition kicked off on Friday night, reigning champions Ayrshire Bulls defeating a spirited Boroughmuir Bears side before Saturday’s fixtures saw Watsonians and Heriots record victories over Stirling County and the Southern Knights respectively.
The Ayrshire Bulls, now stewarded by Pete Horne, look well placed to retain their trophy, and were boosted on Friday by the presence of Glasgow fringe players Grant Stewart, Tom Lambert and Hamish Bain. Yet the Bears made life very difficult for their more favoured hosts, with Robbie McCallum classy as usual in the midfield.
Watsonians struggled at times against an impressive Stirling County team, yet have recruited well in the likes of former crypto-trader Jason Baggott and no 8 Ian Moody, both tempted over from the Southern Knights (who aren’t sour at all about the amount of poaching from the capital sides in the off season…). To his credit, Ben Cairns backed his young players on the day and they rewarded him with a battling performance throughout. Max Williamson, who trained with the full Scotland squad during last year’s Six Nations, is one to keep an eye on.
Heriots - who finished bottom place in last year’s tournament - scored the most impressive result of the round, pulling away in the final 10 minutes to secure a 41-24 victory over the Southern Knights. Like their capital rivals Watsonians, Heriots have look to the borders in their off season recruitment drive, with no less than four former Knights (McLaren, McAndrew, Godsmark and Pecquer) featuring for the hosts. There has been plenty of change at the Greenyards since last season, most notably the departure of head coach Rob Chrystie to the SRU, yet in Edinburgh pivot Nathan Chamberlain and Murray Redpath at nine they have a halfback pairing that can rival any other in the competition.
UNDER-18 FESTIVAL - MEN’S TEAM PIPPED BUT WOMEN COME GOOD:
Scotland under-18 men’s side came agonisingly close to a rare age grade victory over English opposition, eventually going down 15-18 to their Sassenach rivals. And Ross Miller’s men can arguably feel hard done by, with one English score occurring after Scotland back row Tom Currie had been knocked out in the field of play. It was Currie who kicked off the scoring, getting on the end of a rolling maul, before Scotland were awarded a penalty try following another powerful lineout drive. Scrum half Murdoch Lock added his side’s remaining points from the boot. However, England scored late on to take match out of the young Scots’ grasp. Overall the tournament has been a positive for this group of young men and hopefully this is the start of better fortunes for the age grade sides - perhaps they are proof that not all is rotten in the state of Scottish rugby. Murdoch Lock, Liam McConnell, Monroe Job and Euan McVie are all ones to watch for the future.
The under-18 women’s went one better at the same tournament, defeating their Italian counterparts 24-22 at the DAM Health Stadium. Scotland made the perfect start, scoring after just 17 seconds through an intercept try by inside centre Hannah Walker, and were soon three tries to the good, Sky Phimister showing blistering pace for a brace of scores. However the Italians clawed their way back into the match, scoring three tries of their own to take the lead late into the second half. Then in the final act of a topsy turvy encounter, replacement three quarter Nicole Flynn scored in the 66th minute and Scotland were able to hold out for the win.
SCOTLAND 7s: it has been a difficult start to life on the circuit for the Scotland 7s side this year, yet their 10th place finish in Vancouver at the weekend was at least an improvement on last week’s Singapore showing. Day one saw three pool losses against France, Ireland and Argentina, in what was admittedly a difficult group. Scotland recovered well to record an impressive win over the US on day two, before losing out to Canada despite matching them on the try count. Jordan Edmunds was a stand out once again, and Kaleem Baretto chipped in with three scores across the tournament. Ciaran Beattie’s men are currently sitting 13th in the overall standings, yet are not a million miles from breaking into the top 10. Next week Toulouse, before tournaments in London and LA to look forward to.
SCOTS ABROAD:
Champions Cup
Bristol v Sale: Jake Kerr (2) v Tom Roebuck (14), Ewan Ashman (16) and Gus Warr (21) - Glasgow incomer JP Du Preez also featured off the bench for Sale.
Harlequins v Montpellier: Huw Jones (15) v
Munster v Exeter: v Jonny Gray (4), Sam Skinner (5) and Stuart Hogg (15)
Leicester v Clermont: Matt Scott (23) v
Racing v Stade Francais: Finn Russell (10) v
Challenge Cup:
London Irish v Castres: Kyle Rowe (14), Ben White (21) and Henry Arundell (23).
Lyon v Worcester: v Rory Sutherland, Isaac Miller (16) and Murray McCallum (18) - quite the Scottish front row union developing at Sixways these days.
Gloucester v Northampton: Adam Hastings (10), Chris Harris (13) and Alex Craig (19) v Rory Hutchinson (12)
Saracens v Cardiff: Tim Swinson (5), Andy Christie (6) and Sean Maitland (14) v
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Great roundup as always