Sean Everitt’s side returned to URC action on Good Friday, after two knockout wins in Europe, securing a place in the Challenge Cup Semi-Finals. Heading into match round fifteen, all but one of the URC sides still had a chance to qualify for the play-offs. Edinburgh started the evening at the bottom of the qualifying spots in eighth. Their opponents, the Hollywoodbets Sharks, started the night in a comfortable fourth place, enough to secure a home quarter-final. Despite a solid performance in front of a sold-out Hive Stadium, a last-minute Sharks attack led to Sean Everitt suffering a hugely disappointing defeat.
The Sharks opened the scoring almost right away, with a huge kick from Jordan Hendrikse, just after the halfway line on the left-hand side, to secure the South African team’s first three after just three minutes. He attempted to slot through another kick two minutes later from the other side of the field, which had the power but just flew wide of the goalposts.
Edinburgh looked to break onto the scoresheet, holding possession for the next few minutes, an attempt to sneak through near to the left corner was quickly halted, but a quick series of passes moved the ball out to the right hand side of the field curved round the Sharks defender by James Lang, giving Edinburgh the lead, Ross Thompson missed an, in fairness, wider than ideal kick. 5-3.
Edinburgh aggressively attempted to add to their lead straight away, maintaining possession down at the Sharks’ goal line, but struggled to find another opening immediately.
Jack Brown replaced Ross McCann in the 24th Minute after the winger appeared to be in some pain.
The break in the game, however, allowed Edinburgh to build an attack, again exploiting the right-hand side of the field, Jamie Ritchie charging through the Sharks’ backline to claim another five points for his side. Ross Thompson’s conversion kick, again, was unsuccessful, keeping the score 10-3. Four minutes before the half-time break, Ben Muncaster gave away a penalty to the Sharks. Jordan Hendriske kicked another stunner from far out, reducing Edinburgh’s lead to four points. It was 10-6 at the end of the first half.
The Sharks started the second period aggressively, taking the lead almost right away, Lukhanyo Am breaking through the Edinburgh defence before handing the ball off to Ahelele Fassi, who claimed the try. A good kick from Hendrikse left it 11-13.
Edinburgh tried to fight back straight away, however, a rough tackle from Am saw him sent to the sin-bin.
Then, all hell seemed to break loose, with players from each team scrapping it out in an embarrassing moment for both sides. Sam Skinner and Eben Etzebeth had a particularly intense encounter, and after a moment of deliberation from the referees, it was decided that both players would be sent off for 10 minutes, leaving Edinburgh with 14 men and The Sharks with 13. The restart, just centimetres from the goalline, saw Edinburgh score right away, Ewan Ashman diving over the Sharks’ backline right underneath the goalposts. Ross Thompson scored his first successful kick of the evening to make the score 17-13. Almost right after the restart, Jordan Hendrikse looked to reduce the deficit to just one point with another penalty kick, but the ball curved too far to the left. After a sustained period of Sharks possession, the fly-half had the chance to kick again from a similar possession, but he squandered the chance yet again.
Edinburgh needed to maintain a fragile four-point lead, but also had to think about bonus points on the URC table (all so important in such a tight play-off race). For the last ten minutes, Edinburgh tried to maintain possession, perhaps waiting for a chance to pounce, but far more cautiously than in usual circumstances.
Not cautiously enough, in a devastating blow for Sean Everitt’s side, one final attack from The Sharks was enough, unguarded winger Makozle Mapimpi grabbed the ball on the far left-hand side to claim five points, in the 80th minute. An unsuccessful conversion left it at 17-18.
Despite a very competitive performance, the match ended as a one-point game that could perhaps define Edinburgh’s season: almost excellent, but in the end just not quite good enough. Sean Everitt will take some comfort in a losing bonus point. In reality, with only three games left in the season, including a tough away trip to Connacht and a home finale against a competitive Ulster side. Edinburgh will know that there is simply no room for any more disappointments.
Edinburgh coach Sean Everitt spoke after the game:
“A couple of basic errors at the end of the game. We had opportunities in the 22 tonight. We weren’t clinical enough, but I suppose after a loss like this, you’ve got to find the positives, and the positives are the fight that the guys showed defensively. They hardly fired a shot at us until the last movement of the game. I thought the guys put in a lot of effort on the field, and they were determined and came out confident. We trained well during the week, knowing that we could win the game, and that’s what I’m happy about, but gutted for the boys, obviously. I’m just really disappointed.”
Attendance: 7,774
Edinburgh XV and Replacements
1. Pierre Schoeman / 2. Ewan Ashman / 3. D’arcy Rae / 4. Sam Skinner / 5. Grant Gilchrist (Captain) / 6. Jamie Ritchie / 7. Ben Muncaster / 8. Magnus Bradbury / 9. Ali Price / 10. Ross Thompson / 11. Ross McCann / 12. Mosese Tuipulotu / 13. James Lang / 14. Matt Currie / 15. Harry Patterson
16. Dave Cherry / 17. Boan Venter / 18. Angus Williams / 19. Glen Young / 20. Freddy Douglas / 21. Charlie Shiel / 22. Cammy Scott / 23. Jack Brown
Sharks XV and Replacements
1. Ox Nche / 2. Bongi Mbonambi / 3. Vincent Koch / 4. Eben Etzebeth (Captain) / 5. Emile Van Heerden / 6. Phepshi Buthelezi / 7. Vincent Tshituka / 8. Siya Jolisi / 9. Jaden Hendriske / 10. Jordan Hendrikse / 11. Makazole Mapimpi / 12. Andre Esterhuizen / 13. Lukhanyou Am / 14. Ethan Hooker / 15. Ahelele Fassi
16. Fez Mbatha / 17. Ntuthuko Mchunu / 18. Hanro Jacobs / 19. Jason Jenkins / 20. James Venter / 21. Grant Williams / 22. Siya Masuku / 23. Jurenzo Julius
