JUST SO SCOTTISH
Heartbreak for Scotland Women in their World Cup opener, contrasting fortunes for the pro sides against South African opposition, big signing news and lots more
WELCOME: well at least the Scottish mens’ and womens’ national sides are equal in one respect - they can both subject their fans to absolutely devastating last gasp losses. Much like the men versus Wales in Cardiff in 2010 and against Australia at the 2015 World Cup, Scotland Women conspired to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on Sunday morning, in a game that was eminently winnable. Do you not sometimes look at Irish rugby, the national side fresh off dusting New Zealand in their own back yards, Leinster and Ulster breezing through the URC and think what could have been?
Anyway, enough of the pity party. There was a tonne of rugby to get stuck into over the weekend, most notably the start of the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand.
We all know that two Scottish pro side victories in a single weekend are as rare as hen’s teeth, but not many would have predicted it would be Edinburgh to slip up at the weekend, while Glasgow’s impressive victory over a strong Bull side is perhaps an inkling of the sort of team Franco Smith wants to create at Scotstoun.
Elsewhere there was bags of exciting transfer news, chiefly around the Scottish contingent at Worcester, Super 6 reached its penultimate round and a barrage of Scots were in action abroad. Also look out for our new Rumour Mill section - some of the potential comings and goings are extremely interesting.
WOMEN’S HEARTACHE: Scotland’s World Cup campaign opened in the most heart breaking of fashions, going down to Wales 15-18 courtesy of a last minute penalty kick from Wales scrum-half Keira Bevan. The final result was particularly gut wrenching given Scotland were presented with the chance to take the win themselves just moments before, but Helen Nelson’s touchline conversion drifted to the left of the posts. Bryan Easson has a hell of a task on his hands dusting down his charges and readying them for the daunting prospects of matches against Australia and New Zealand to come.
Wales started the match brightly, and were rewarded for their early dominance with a try for Butchers, before Snowsgill extended the lead with a penalty goal. Yet Scotland stayed in the contest, hooker Lana Skeldon - who put in a power of work across a full 80 minute shift - crossing at the back of a rolling maul. However, Wales were to take a 10-point lead into half time, full-back Powell with the score just before the break.
In the second half an unlikely come gradually materialized. With Wales down to 14 men, Megan Gaffney finished in the corner after some beautiful link play through the backs, started by Konkel’s cute offload from the back of a scrum. And it was Gaffney’s second score, taking advantage of Jasmine Joyce’s yellow, that drew the scores level at 15-15 and gave Nelson the chance to nick the win. However, her kick was pulled, Scotland lost the subsequent restart, and unfortunately, the rest is history.
Scotland should be applauded for coming back into the game, but this will be truly gutting for captain Rachel Malcolm and co. On the day Scotland probably made slightly too many errors, and paid the price for what was a slow start. You don’t often hear of international kickers missing 5/5 of their attempts at goal, and surely this was a one-off for the forlorn Helen Nelson. But it does make you wonder whether Scotland had a back-up kicker contingency plan in place (maybe Lisa Thomson, who kicks for touch from penalties) for such a scenario?
Last minute losses, failure to deal with restarts - sounds like another team we are all familiar with…
Highlights below:
BULL TAMERS: Glasgow’s confusing start to the season continued on Saturday night, putting the visiting Bulls to the sword with a five try, 35-21 victory. Franco Smith’s side showed few changes from last week’s ordinary defeat to the Ospreys, but looked a completely different side on their return to Scotstoun.
The fast flowing rugby that Glasgow supporters crave only works if the foundations are set up front, and in this regard the home pack were impressive throughout. Remember that this was a Bulls pack that had put Edinburgh to the sword but a week ago. Scott Cummings was a stand out, while Tom Gordon has showed that he is a more than capable stand in for Rory Darge.
Glasgow had the bonus point secured before half time, with tries for Matt Fagerson, Cancilliere, Horne and Scott Cummings. Horne’s was the pick of the bunch, a 50 metre solo run showing us that he is back to the sort of form that will make it hard for Ali Price to dislodge him from the number 9 shirt. Josh Mackay, looking delighted on his return to the side after injury and a stint in Super 6, crossed for Glasgow’s only score of the second half, with a potential second for Cancilliere chalked off after an earlier knock-on.
Glasgow are, remarkably, now ahead of Edinburgh in the URC table - who would have thought that after the recent turmoil around Scotstoun? Next up is a trip down to South Africa, starting with the Sharks - that will be a true test of where the Warriors are now.
Full highlights below:
LIONS ROAR: Edinburgh slipped to their 3rd consecutive defeat in the URC, a late penalty from Lions standoff Gianni Lombardi securing the visitors a 22-19 victory at the DAM Health on Friday night. While Mike Blair’s men returned from their South Africa trip winless, it was generally felt they gave a good account of themselves on their travels, particularly versus the Bulls. However, their performance against the Lions (supposedly the poorest of the South African franchise - arguably there is no such thing as a weak South African rugby side) failed to live up to these standards, making basic errors throughout and failing to match the intensity of their opponents.
As the sides ran out, commentator Jamie Lyall made the point that in the URC only Ulster have come to the DAM Health (or Mini-field, as it should definitely have been called) and won, a quite extraordinary record - and one that was bound to be broken as soon as it was uttered aloud. The Lions were stuffy throughout, playing with an urgency that Edinburgh were not able to match at points. However, the home side led the encounter for the majority of the match, thanks to tries from Bill Mata (repping his beloved Trinity club socks), Ben Muncaster and Darcy Graham, who now has 6 tries in 4 matches this season.
Perhaps Edinburgh were struggling to adjust following their bruising trip to the southern hemisphere. Kinghorn is still finding his feet after a summer of exertions, and even Boffeli looked out of sorts following his Rugby Championship exploits. Next up is Benetton at home - a must win if Edinburgh are to be taken seriously this season.
Highlights below:
POST-WORCESTER SIGNINGS: there is very little that is more satisfying than posting a rogue signing rumour on Twitter and then having it confirmed by official sources. And we were at it again last week, with one of our super secret sources coming good in their prediction that Duhan Van Der Merwe was set for a return to Edinburgh following the demise of the Worcester Warriors.
Duhan adds undoubted try scoring pedigree to an already strong Edinburgh back three - how do you squeeze him in alongside the in-form Darcy Graham, King Boff, the increasingly dependable Henry Immelman and new star signing Wes Goosen (currently out injured)? Embarassment of riches and all that. What is even more tantalising is that Duhan has never played for Edinburgh under the free flowing approach of Mike Blair - presumably the plan will be to get him the ball as much as possible.
Then on Friday it emerged that Ulster were the favourites for Rory Sutherland’s signing, putting to bed the rumours that Edinburgh or Glasgow were in for the Hawick man. Suzz would have been a welcome addition at Scotstoun in particular, yet there is reasonable depth in the loosehead position with Kebble and Bhatti to contend with, while Edinburgh are well served in the front row stocks. But this move looks a shrewd one, allowing Sutherland to test himself in the Champions Cup, and providing (hopefully) regular game time for one of our most important players heading into the World Cup next year. In moving to the Kingspan, he follows in the footsteps of some other illustrious Scots to have ventured across the Irish Sea - Simon Danielli, Nikki Walker and, er, Rob Dewey.
But do spare a thought for Murray McCallum, who so far finds himself clubless. Surely Glasgow could have provided a home for such a young and versatile (he can play both sides of the scrum) prop? Hopefully something comes up soon.
THE RUMOUR MILL: a new feature this week that comes courtesy of one of our beady-eyed Twitter followers who has their finger truly on the pulse. Said writer wishes to remain anonymous to protect his sources, but some of these comings and goings are golden.
Edinburgh
Ins: current Scarlets and Scotland prop Javan Sebastian is set to join the capital side on a 2-3 year deal, with WP Nel and/or Lee-Roy Atilofa making way. Mike Blair wants to add another option at tighthead, with Jack Owlett, Mak Wilson, D’arcy Rae and Murray McCallum all potential candidates.
Ewan Ashman is also poised to join on a 3-year deal, replacing stalwart Stuart McInally.
Outs: at present c.17 player contracts expire at the end of the season, with the most notable including Mata, Pyrgos, Jaco, Kunavula and Boffeli (and one other big name who will remain quiet for just now…) Our sources tell us that Boffeli is attracting attention from suitors in France, but that he is amenable to extending his current deal.
Glasgow
Ins: talks are ongoing with Waratahs centre Mosese Tuipulotu, the younger brother of Sione, about a move to Scotstoun. If correct, this might put to bed rumours that Sione is being lined up by Sale for a move down south.
Intriguingly, Glasgow could resurrect a move for Munster stand-off Ben Healy, who is Scots-qualified and only signed a 1-year contract extension last season, and one other Irish but Scots qualified name.
Outs: the Rugby Paper reported last week that Richie Gray is set for a move to Brive, while there are 15 or so players coming off contract at the end of the year, including Horne, Wilson, Kebble, Duncan Weir and Miotti.
SUPER 6: the penultimate round of the Super 6 Sprint saw pace setters Ayrshire Bulls and Watsonians pull further ahead at the top of the table, while there was a surprise win for the Southern Knights over Heriots.
Firstly on Friday night, the Bulls cruised to a comfortable 26-0 home victory over basement dwellers the Stirling Wolves. The match saw a tasty match up between current Glasgow pivots Ross Thompson and Duncan Weir, lining up for the Bulls and the Wolves respectively, and in the end it was Thompson who guided his side to victory. Ollie Smith has also looked sharp in recent weeks as he returns from injury; hopefully we see these young guns return for the Warriors in the not too distant future. Highlights below:
The Southern Knights pulled off the shock result of the round, defeating Heriots 27-20 at Goldenacre. The men from the borders were no doubt helped by the presence of Edinburgh pros Jaco Van Der Walt and Nick Auterac, in two positions where arguably the draft can make the biggest difference on match day - but the majority of their match day squad was made up of the same players who have stuck together despite a difficult tournament overall. There remain big questions over the future of the Knights as a Super 6 entity, amidst the usual backdrop of Borders in-fighting. It might be an intractable problem to solve, but it seems a shame given the undoubted talent contained throughout the region.
Then on Saturday the in-form Watsonians defeated fellow EH10 dwellers the Boroughmuir Bears 27-10. But they were made to work for their win, trailing at half time before a superior bench - which included Edinburgh and Scotland second row Jamie Hodgson - came into its own in the later stages. Fair play to the Bears, who have been competitive throughout the tournament. Anyone know why their pro allocation seems to be so threadbare?
SCOTS ABROAD:
Gallagher Premiership
Bristol v Exeter: Magnus Bradbury (8) and Jake Kerr (16) v Jonny Gray (5) and Stuart Hogg (15) - nice to see Gray getting a good run of games for an in-form Exeter outfit, plus recent media star (see below) Stuart Hogg looked in good touch on his first full start for the year.
Bath v Gloucester: Cam Redpath (12) v Adam Hastings (10) and Charlie Chapman (21) - the Redpath recovery continues at pace, hopefully in time for the 2023 Six Nations.
Leicester v Sale: Matt Scott (13) v Gus Warr (9), Tom Roebuck (14) and Ewan Ashman (16) - might Warr, who has started throughout Sale’s unbeaten start to the season, come into the picture for the AIs?
Newcastle v Saracens: v Calum Hunter Hill (4) and Andy Christie (20)
Wasps v Northampton: Robin Hislop (1) and Kiran MacDonald (4) v Fraser Dingwall (12) and Rory Hutchinson (22)
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loving the rumour mill section.