Edinburgh defeat DHL Stormers for first win of the URC season

Edinburgh finally has something to celebrate after claiming a victory for the first time this BKT URC season.

Sean Eviritt’s side returned home from a disappointing tour to Pretoria and Johannesburg to face another South African team in the Scottish capital: the DHL Stormers, visiting from Cape Town.

Edinburgh Rugby: 38

DHL Stormers: 7

The home side desperately needed a win after a worrying start to the season. Beating the Stormers, however, was never going to be an easy task, after the South African side achieved a dominant victory in Parma last week. 

After a slow start in which both sides failed to create many opportunities to attack, Edinburgh finally broke through, in a real team effort the ball was eventually set down over the line by Grant Gilchrist for his second try in as many weeks. 

…Except it wasn’t: Gilchrist dropped the ball on his way to the ground, something missed by the referee at first glance. TMO quickly disallowed the try, but the replay also revealed that the ball had traveled backward ultimately giving Edinburgh another attacking opportunity from a scrum. This time Edinburgh capitalised on the opportunity without fault, passing the ball cautiously out to the wing, patiently waiting for a gap in the Stormers’ backline. Eventually, they found it with Paddy Harrison sneaking through to obtain the first points of the evening. Ross Thompson’s conversion was successful to give Edinburgh the seven-point lead. 

Just three minutes later, Edinburgh added to the scoreline. In a try from nowhere, Ben Muncaster spotted a gap in the Stormers’ defence just ahead of the 10m line. Racing ahead of the Stormers’, he sprinted across the line diving down beside the goal-posts to add five more points to Edinburgh’s tally before another good kick from Thompson confirmed the extra two. 

The Stormers, looking to break back, then held on to possession, moving the ball dangerously close to the goal line. Eventually, Willemse found a gap close to the right-hand side of the goalposts to score. TMO quickly noted a knock-on in the run-up to the try, ruling it out, but Ross Thompson had strayed into an offside position, giving the Stormers another attacking opportunity from a scrum. They failed to score immediately on this, but further foul play from Edinburgh forced another two scrums. The second led to a try, with Ruhan Nel catching Willemse’s quick pass to finally put John Dobson’s side on the board. A good conversion from Willemse made it 14-7. 

There were no more points scored before halftime, but it was the South African team who seemed to carry the momentum going into the break, the Stormers keeping the ball deep into the Edinburgh half, just yards from scoring an equaliser. It wasn’t to be for the Stormers, much to the relief of the Edinburgh team who held on to the lead at the end of the first half. 

The Stormers looked to have levelled the tie five minutes into the second half, but for the third time this game, the try was disallowed with JD Shickerling grabbing the ball, too late after the tackle. Another blow to the Stormers. 

Edinburgh looked to quickly build an attack after a good 50:22 kick from Ross Thompson, which gave the team the ball way up the pitch, on the left-hand side. A series of passes moved the ball all the way out to the right before Darcy Graham slammed the ball down across the try-line, TMO confirming it hadn’t left his grip on his way to the ground. 

This third try for the home team flipped the momentum in Edinburgh’s favour and allowed them to regain their confidence: just four minutes later they scored again. Captain Grant Gilchrist finally got his try to confirm Edinburgh’s extra point. Another good kick from Thompson gave Edinburgh the 21-point lead in the 62nd minute. 

From this point onwards it was all Edinburgh, the Stormers looking depleted and tired, failing to create many more attacking chances. Edinburgh looked eager for more points: Thompson added another three through the posts before the final try of the evening came from player of the match Ben Muncaster, his second of the evening, on the left-hand side of the posts. Matt Scott successfully kicked for two, after Thompson had been subbed off. 

Edinburgh finally achieved a match-win in their fourth game of the season, in a much better all-round performance. The side remains at home next week, where they will face their first Welsh opposition of the season, as Cardiff travels north to the Scottish capital.