So close yet so far
Historic win for Edinburgh while Glasgow battle but fall short in Europe
WELCOME: It was in the inauspicious surroundings of Hendon RFC at around 7pm on Saturday night when your hardy correspondents, a few Guinness’ to the good, turned to one another and said “can we just talk about the fact that Edinburgh won?” The heroics of Blair’s babes couldn’t quite be matched by Danny’s boys, but in this newsletter we bring you the best of both fixtures, as well as another opportunity to bask in the joy of Finn in full flight. Welcome back and thanks for your continued support.
BURNT BRILLIANT ORANGE: Edinburgh secured an historic 21-18 win over Saracens at a dreich StoneX stadium, WP Nel’s try 14 minutes from time adding to Ramiro Moyano’s first half score and the trusty boot of Boffelli. In the week we speculated whether the Challenge Cup was a priority for either of these sides, and once again we were proved very wrong, with both selecting full noise fifteens, the Saracens team sheet looking particularly strong with the likes of Itoje, the Vunipolas, Lozowski, Daly and Goode. The weather, which gradually turned from light drizzle into sheeted rain, also appeared to suit the hosts. However, Edinburgh dug in and made life difficult for their opponents throughout. The pack fronted up manfully, with WP Nel scrummaging his opposite man into oblivion (and into the sin bin) and securing the crucial try after a powerful rolling maul.
Some might say it was the Thistle travelling support wot won it…full highlights here:
CHARLIE ROSE: The inexperienced Charlie Savala, pressed into action after injury to Blair Kinghorn, put in an assured display, and was responsible for one of the few moments of quality on the day, his pinpoint cross field kick (worth watching again below) snatched out of the North London sky by the once again impressive Moyano. His family were at the match to watch him, and it was clear to see how special a day it was for the Savala clan.
NOW WE’RE TOURING? Edinburgh have a week off next week (as a result of the bizarre Challenge Cup structure of 3 pools of 5 teams) but can look forward to another trip down south on the 15th of January next year, as they take on London Irish at the Brentford Community Stadium. Very interesting…
LES WARRIORS DE GLASGOW PERDENT: a battling Glasgow side went down to La Rochelle 20-13 on Sunday afternoon, eventually succumbing to the heft and power game of their hosts. While a BP away to last year’s beaten finalists is a decent result, Danny Wilson’s men will still feel this is a game they could have won if there had been a degree more accuracy to their play, and if they had not fallen foul of some harsh refereeing calls. Glasgow clearly had a plan to run the gargantuan La Rochelle pack off their feet, and in the early stages had some joy, with decent runs from the likes of Steyn and Josh Mackay. However, their kicking game was slightly off and the breakdown was a struggle throughout. It took until early in the second half to cross the whitewash, Steyn latching onto a clever cross field kick from Ali Price after some brutish phase play from the Warriors pack. Yet La Rochelle were able to keep their visitors at arms length and eventually ground out the win.
Full highlights here:
JACK THE LAD: Although a disappointing loss on the day, Wilson will be pleased with how his charges fronted up to a beastly La Rochelle pack. Dempsey was once again impressive, and he was joined in the trenches by Darge, Johnson, Turner and the Fagerson bros. Josh Mackay absolutely oozes quality, and could be one of the best signings ever for either of the Scottish pro teams. Price led well and his box kicking was on the money, while Thompson impressed in spells in what was probably his biggest test in pro rugby to date.
The Champions Cup is a brutal tournament, with Exeter the next test for this Warriors side. But Saturday evening, with Hoggy and Gray junior back in town, could provide the perfect opportunity for Wilson and co to stamp their name on this year’s tournament.
GOOD FINN WENCESLAS: by the end of Friday night’s clash between Northampton and Racing 92, commentators and fans were running out of superlatives to describe the performance they had just seen from Finn Russell. He provided assists for no less than 4 of his side’s 5 tries, including an exquisite looping pass in the lead up to Juan Imhoff’s second score. But perhaps the crowning glory was his role in Lauret’s second score, running the ball back after an errant kick, shrugging off the attempted tackles of Furbank and Skosan, before pointing Lauret where he wanted him and flicking a beauty of a pass behind a would be defender. This was a welcome return to form after Finn’s inconsistent autumn, and even opposition coach Chris Boyd could do little apart from offer fulsome praise.
If you haven’t seen it already, full highlights here:
SKINNER TO EDIN? News reached Thistle HQ on Saturday morning that Sam Skinner is set to join Edinburgh next season, as the English Premiership’s salary cap forces squad rethinks. Skinner is a quality operator, with the ability to play across most of the back five of the pack, and will bring a winner’s mentality to Blair’s Babes.
SCOTS ABROAD
A busy weekend for various Scots across the big and wee cups. Resident stats guru Kevin Millar found that no less than 62 SQP individuals were involved.
Champions Cup
Northampton v Racing 92: Nick Auterac (1), Fraser Dingwall (12) and Rory Hutchinson (22) v Finn (10) - Dingwall one of the Saints best performers (although that ain’t saying much).
Leinster v Bath: v Josh Bayliss (8) and D’arcy Rae (18).
Exeter v Montpellier: Jonny Gray (4), Sam Skinner (7) and Stuart Hogg (15) - Gray picking up a hatrick on his way to being named star of the match.
Bordeaux v Leicester: v Matt Scott (12)
Ospreys v Sale: v Ewan Ashman (2) and Gus Warr (21) - Ashman crossing the whitewash for the visitors.
Wasps v Munster: Robin Hislop (17) v
Castres v Harlequins: v Huw Jones (13)
Challenge Cup
Newcastle v Worcester: Gary Graham (20) v Duhan van der Merwe (11) and Finn Smith (22), - Duhan scoring yet another try for the Warriors.
Lyon v Gloucester: v Andrew Davidson (4) and Charlie Chapman (22).
Saracens v Edinburgh: Callum Hunter-Hill (4) and Andy Christie (6)
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