After a disappointing defeat last week in Gloucester, Edinburgh had the opportunity to get their EPCR Challenge Cup campaign back on track at Hive Stadium as Bayonne traveled to the Scottish capital on Friday night.
Starting the evening at the bottom of Pool 3, Sean Everittโs side had it all to play for, with only three games left before the knockout stages. The head coach picked a strong starting 15 to face a relatively second-choice Bayonne side, who are perhaps more focused on their Top14 campaign, amid a tight battle near the summit of the French league. Matt Currie and Duhan Van der Merwe had their first opportunity for competitive game-time after both signing contract extensions earlier in the week.
Both sides started aggressively, clearly hungry for the points as the ball was kicked back and forth, both sides waiting for the breakthrough. It came for the home side after 10 minutes, A missed catch for Bayonne saw the ball passed out wide to Darcy Graham who goose-stepped his way through the Aviron defence eventually handing it to Matt Currie for the first try of his resigned contract. Ross Thompsonโs kick flew too wide to the left leaving Edinburgh five points up.
The celebratory mood was mulled slightly on the restart of play, as Magnus Bradbury was shown a yellow card for a high tackle. The Top 14 side looked to use their man advantage to force their way through, but Eseban Capilla performed a rough tackle on Luke Crosbie taking both sides down to 14 men.
The two sides remained patient, both looking for an opportunity to break through, albeit in a slightly less aggressive manner than at the start of the match. Neither team seemed to be able to find the space though, and despite a relatively dangerous-looking attack from the Basque Country side towards the end of the half, neither side looked particularly threatening up until the 39th minute. And then from nowhere, a superb run from Darcy Graham allowed an Edinburgh breakthrough before emerging star Mosese Tuipulotu slammed the ball over the line to claim the points. Ross Thompsonโs kick was, this time, successful to extend the lead to 12 points. The late surge of excitement at the end of the half wasnโt over yet, Bayonne rushed the ball toward the Edinburgh goal line for a tense period of red time, eventually held off by Magnus Bradbury to deny Bayonne any points heading into the break.
Aviron came out fighting, scoring within three minutes of the 2nd half, Lucas Martin finding the space through the midst of a lineout, an unsuccessful kick made the score 12-5. Edinburgh, clearly unimpressed with themselves for conceding so quickly, hit back almost immediately. Darcy Graham charging through for a speedy try on the right-hand side of the field. Thompsonโs kick was good, extending the lead back to 12 points. The tries kept coming, it was only another 4 minutes before the next score, Baptiste Germain hitting back, curving around the back of the posts from out on the left-hand side. This back-and-forth wasnโt over, Edinburgh refusing to sit back. Another breakthrough run, this time by star man Duhan van der Merwe, staying in the capital much to the relief of Edinburgh fans. After four tries in 11 minutes, the score sat, at 26-12. Edinburgh also secured a bonus point at this stage, with their fourth try of the evening.
There were still more tries to come, Darcy Graham breaking through again after Edinburgh maintained possession up at the Aviron end of the field. 31-12, after Ross Thompson missed the conversion, his 2nd miskick of the evening. Edinburgh started to run away with it, substitute Tom Dodd scoring from a rolling maul, just to the left of the posts. Ross Thompson had been subbed off but replacement kicker Ben Healyโs conversion was good. With 13 minutes left to play the contest was all but over, the bonus point secured, it was now more of a question as to how many more the home side could score.
They did have a couple more in the tank, Tom Dodds scoring his second try of the evening, in a scrimmage similar to his first, this time over on the right-hand side of the field. Another came with a pass out-left to on-field captain, Jamie Ritchie. A tough kick from outside was successful from Healy ending the game with the home side up by 40 points.
Attention will turn to the 1872 Cup Double header vs Glasgow Warriors. Hampden Park will play host for the very first time next Sunday. Then Edinburgh hopes to beat last yearโs record attendance on Saturday the 28th of December for the second leg at Murrayfield.
Head Coach Sean Everitt shared his thoughts on the performance:
“Iโm pleased with the second half, the guys put it together nicely and we had a good variety of tries as well โ we had set-piece tries, we had good counter tries and we had tries from turnovers โ so itโs nice when it comes together.โ
โAnd on top of that, it was a good defensive effort as well. I thought we did well to keep them out close to our line, especially just before half-time, so it was a good all-round performance.โ
When asked about the upcoming contest against Glasgow:
โObviously it is going to be emotional. It is a big two games for us โ the two biggest in the calendar with a lot of rivalry between the clubs โ so it is about preparing well which means keeping a calmness in the group, and the emotional energy can come at the back end of the week.
โWe have to make sure we get our nuts and bolts tightened in the first few days of next week and then we can let the emotion go later on.โI’m really pleased with the second half, the guys put it together nicely and we had a good variety of tries as well โ we had set-piece tries, we had good counter tries and we had tries from turnovers โ so itโs nice when it comes together.
โAnd on top of that, it was a good defensive effort as well. I thought we did well to keep them out close to our line, especially just before half-time, so it was a good all-round performance.โ
Edinburgh
15. Wes Goosen, 14. Darcy Graham, 13. Matt Currie, 12. Mosese Tuipulotu, 11. Duhan van der Merwe, 10. Ross Thompson, 9. Ali Price, 1. Pierre Schoeman, 2. Ewan Ashman, 3. Paul Hill, 4. Marshall Sykes, 5. Grant Gilchrist (C), 6. Jamie Ritchie, 7. Luke Crosbie, 8. Magnus Bradbury
16. Dave Cherry, 17. Boan Venter, 18. Javan Sebastian, 19. Sam Skinner, 20. Tom Dodd, 21. Charlie Shiel, 22. Ben Healy, 23. James Lang
Aviron Bayonnais
15. Cheikh Tiberghien, 14. Aurรฉlien Callandret, 13. Arnaud Erbinartegaray, 12. Guillaume Martocq, 11. Tom Spring, 10. Camille Lopez (C), 9. Baptiste Germain, 1. Andy Bordelai, 2. Lucas Martin, 3. Pascal Cotet, 4. Denis Marchois, 5. Veikoso Poloniati, 6. Esteban Capilla, 7. Baptiste Heguy, 8. Rodrigo Bruni
16. Torsten van Jaarsveld, 17. Swan Cormenier, 18. Pieter Scholtz, 19. Rรฉmi Bourdeau, 20. Noa Traversier, 21. Maxime Machenaud, 22. Joris Segonds, 23. Nadir Megdoud
Attendance: 5,885
