“The second one was the preparation that we wanted. You must not forget that there were some guys who had not played for a period of time, so they were always going to be a bit rusty, especially against a team that really came off the line and were aggressive off the line and in the contact area. 

“We lost the collisions in the first half, which made it difficult for us, particularly in attack, so we need to work on that attack organisation in the opposition 22. But it was great preparation for what’s coming next week, because they defend exactly like Zebre do. 

“We’ve got to look at the positive. Three great transition tries, and I thought the boys were good in the air as well. And we got ascendancy in the set piece in the end, and I thought our depth defence, our goal-line defence, was really good. And to keep them all out, which we take a lot of pride in, was outstanding.

“Five tries to two. We’ll take the result, but it means nothing in a friendly, unfortunately.”  

Everitt’s squad came out of the evening with a couple of additional injury concerns. “Ross Thompson got a sprained toe, so we took him off as a precaution. Cammy Scott unfortunately tweaked a hamstring in the warm-up.

“So it’s not easy when you’re playing a nine at 10,” he said of the enforced move of Charlie Shiel to cover for Thompson. “It does add to the reason we didn’t have variation in our attack.”

Asked if those injuries would be a worry for next week, the coach added: “Ross shouldn’t be a problem.” 

After a stodgy start to the 8pm game against Ealing, Edinburgh took a deserved lead after ten minutes, when Ewan Ashman finished off from a lineout drive after a penalty had gone to touch. Ross Thompson’s conversion attempt from the right corner went wide.

The home team pressed hard for a second try for some time after that, to no avail. Then, midway through the half, a loose ball and a hack ahead ended with Scotland Under-20 cap Geordie Gwynn touching down and Rory Scannell’s conversion putting the visitors in front.

The narrow lead did not last, as a brilliant sweeping move from Edinburgh began with a break by Ben Vellacott and culminated in left-winger Lewis Wells outstripping the cover defence from 40 metres out. Thompson was again wide with the kick, but at 10-7 the score now gave a more accurate reflection of the balance of play. That is how it stayed until the brink of half-time, when Ealing forced their way over through Jordan Holgate. George Worboys, on for Scannell, converted to make it 10-14 at the break.

Although clearly played at a higher tempo and greater intensity than the first match of the evening, the game was notably less entertaining, especially in the early, scoreless stages of the second half. But, 15 minutes in, Edinburgh regained their lead following a lineout maul. 

The drive for the line fell short, but two phases later Vellacott got there. James Lang’s conversion attempt failed, leaving the score at 15-14, but the home team stretched their lead barely a minute later when substitute Ross McCann emulated Wells’ first-half score by racing in from distance. Lang’s kick was again wide of the mark. 

Ealing continued to press for the score that would put them back in front, but inside the final 10 minutes Hamish Watson ran in the try that settled the outcome of the contest. Lang converted to make it 27-14.

In the earlier match against  Doncaster Knights, a young Edinburgh side dominated the first quarter, at the end of which they were 21-5 to the good thanks to three converted tries. Malelili Satala opened the scoring with a clever kick ahead and catch, beating the last man before touching down. The Knights hit back when Thom Smith crossed from close range after a penalty had been sent to touch, but, after Morgan Bunting’s conversion attempt had gone wide, Edinburgh claimed two quick scores through Tom Currie and Conor McAlpine.

Doncaster were on top in the set piece, and eventually turned pressure into points with a Matt McNab try in the left corner. Bunting ran out of time before he got round to taking his kick, but minutes later made no such mistake after full-back Ryan Olowofela had scored after breaking away from inside his own half. 

A fourth try for the visitors, scored by former Scotland Under-20 international Rhys Tait and converted by Bunting, put them ahead for the first time in the game at 21-24. But Edinburgh had the last word before the break when Ross Wolfenden touched down close to the posts then added the two points to make it 28-24. Before the conversion, a multi-player fracas ended in home centre Nairn Moncrieff being yellow-carded.

An unconverted try by Aidan Cross put the Knights back in front at 28-29 just before Moncrieff emerged from the sinbin. Then, after Edinburgh brought on all eight replacements on the 50-minute mark, the visitors stretched their lead through a Jordan Olowofela try and Alex Dolly conversion.

The heat had gone out of the game, but with a dozen minutes to go Satala reignited the crowd’s interest with a superb second try from a Hector Patterson pass. Henry Widdowson missed the conversion to leave the score at 33-36, before Zach Kerr sealed the 10-point win for the visitors with a try converted by Dolly.

While Satala’s tries grabbed the attention from a home point of view, there were equally impressive performances from two forwards. Hooker Harri Morris was a livewire in defence, while 18-year-old lock Christian Lindsay gave further proof of his considerable promise with some dynamic play in the loose. 

 

Edinburgh 27 Ealing Trailfinders 14

Edinburgh: W Goosen; H Paterson, P O’Connor, J Lang, L Wells; R Thompson, B Vellacott; J Whitcombe, E Ashman, P Hill, M Sykes, G Gilchrist, L Crosbie, F Douglas, M Bradbury. Replacements: P Harrison, D Rae, M Jones, S Skinner, L McConnell, H Watson, C Shiel, M Davidson, R McCann, H Morris, J Brown, G Young.

Ealing Trailfinders: T Wilson; A Kernohan, G Gwynn, J Holgate, T Collins; R Scannell, C Hampson; L Zigiriadis, M Cornish, G Davis, J Caulfield, S Lonsdale, J Taylor, C Oliver, W Montgomery. Replacements: M Willemse, J Kenny, K Whyte, D Bridge, G Shaw, R Farrar, K Hatherell, S Edwards, G Worboys, M Dykes, D Bailey, W Parry, P Campbell. 

Edinburgh scorers: Tries: Ashman, Wells, Vellacott, McCann, Watson. Con: Lang.

 

Edinburgh 33 Doncaster Knights 43

Edinburgh: J Brown; M Satala, N Moncrieff, M Davidson, R McKnight; R Wolfenden, C McAlpine; J Stewart, H Morris, O Blyth-Lafferty, C Lindsay, G Young, S Byrd, T Currie, O Duncan. Replacements: J Blyth-Lafferty, B White, A Williams, R Burke, D Cockburn, H Patterson, H Widdowson, R McHaffie.

Doncaster Knights: R Olowofela; M McNab, J Margetts, Z Kerr, A Cross; M Bunting, O Fox; A Turner, F Davies, J Jones, E Ehizode, M Jones, J Bainbridge, R Tait, T Smith. Replacements: G Roberts, J McGuire, L Thiede, A Hopkinson, E Viliamu, B Chapman, A Dolly, R Bennett, L Fenton, J Olowofela, J Williams.

Edinburgh scorers: Tries: Satala 2, Currie, McAlpine, Wolfenden. Cons: Wolfenden 4.