For Edinburgh, the result was a disappointment and especially so given the way they had played in the first half, with fluent movement of the ball and some special touches from their young stand-off Calum Jessop, who continues to impress in his first season out of school. But despite their flamboyant play in the first 40, and their ability to score tries, Edinburgh came away from this match with zero championship points, while the South bagged a full five.
Afterwards Edinburgh’s head coach Bob McKillop said he had expected the South to react after the break, saying: “We knew they would come back. It was something we talked about before the game. We couldn’t get enough ball in the second half to keep playing.”
“We’ve had one and a half training sessions and not even everybody could make it to those sessions. So I’m really pumped and excited about our performance. I thought the game was fantastic. I thought it was a one-score game that could have gone either way. Our players are adamant that Ryan Daly scored in the corner, which is why he put the ball down and started to celebrate. And then it’s a one-score game and it could have gone either way. I’m not saying we’d have won the game. It could have gone either way. And it felt like a one-score game.”
Edinburgh opened the game at a furious pace and made instant use of the sympathetic conditions at Mansfield Park to hit the South with a blitzkrieg try from a pacy run down the right wing by hooker Elliot Young and intelligent support from scorer Rory Kirkpatrick, with Jessop converting to give the visitors an early seven-point advantage.
The city side continued to heap pressure on South and were rewarded with a further try from a clever grubber kick by Jessop, allowing the teenage stand-off to dash through a bemused South defence and win the race for the touchdown before adding the conversion points.
Fortunately for the game, South managed to claw back points with a try engineered by Dwain Patterson and finished by Ben Pickles, Patterson succeeding with the touchline conversion kick.
But South’s joy was short-lived as Edinburgh again exposed South’s somewhat porous defence against a city set of backs who looked quicker and slicker with ball in hand, and again it was a back row, this time Sam Wallace, who translated pressure into points to take the scoring pass for his side’s third try, this time unconverted.
It seemed Edinburgh would increase their lead as yet again the visitors went through the phases after valuable contributions from Young and Euan McLaren, and lively running from the eager backs, but this time South’s defence managed to close the door firmly to save their skins.
Then, just before the interval, South secured themselves a penalty and from the ensuing five-metre line-out, the home forwards drove the maul effectively, cleverly drifting infield, for Fraser Renwick to touch down, leaving Patterson with a simple conversion kick that narrowed Edinburgh’s lead to just five points.
South captain Angus Runciman lifts the Abbotsford Claret Jug. Image: Andy McLean
If South had looked slow out of the blocks in the first half, then the change in their approach was palpable after the break, as urgency and directness became their selling points. And it quickly paid off when from set-piece possession Andrew Mitchell broke through the Edinburgh midfield defence before fending off a further three defenders on his way to the try line to level the scores, Patterson’s third conversion goal putting South into the lead for the first time in the game.
Edinburgh had a chance to wipe out South’s advantage with a penalty kick at goal by Jessop, only for the ball to drift wide of the far upright. But there was a penalty success for Edinburgh when substitute Harry Clark was on target to restore the lead for his side.
Anything Edinburgh can do… and it was South’s Scott Clark, after replacing Hugo Alderson, who replied in kind to put the host team back in the lead.
It was a lead which was extended when Connor Sutherland burst clear from a short pass by Corey Tait. The Hawick back-row was caught a metre short of the Edinburgh line, but when the ball was recycled, Mitchell was able to stroll over for his second try of the game, the conversion by Clark giving South a nine-point cushion, a lead the home side held until the final whistle, despite that very good but ultimately fruitless try-scoring effort by Ryan Daly towards the end of a match that swung dramatically away from the visitors in the second half.
Teams –
The South: C Anderson; F Douglas, A Grant-Suttie, A Mitchell, B Pickles; D Patterson, H Alderson; J Dobie, F Renwick, D Gamble, A Runciman©, J Fisher, S Derrick, M Job, C Sutherland. Subs used: C Tait, B Riddell, O Anderson, G Law, T Wilson, S Clark, L Herdman, A Barbour.
Edinburgh: F Sayers; R Daly, R Kerr, S Robeson, E Crombie; C Jessop, G Christie; D Voas, E Young, E McLaren©, A Bain, P Spence, R Kirkpatrick, S Wallace, C Anderson. Subs used: D Neill, C Davidson, G Scougall, N Doherty, S Allison, B Young, H Clark, C Gettinby.
Referee: Sam O’Neil
Scorers –
The South: Tries: Pickles, Renwick, Mitchell 2; Cons: Patterson 3, Clark; Pens: Clark.
Edinburgh: Tries: Kirkpatrick, Jessop, Wallace; Cons: Jessop 2; Pens: Clark.
Scoring sequence (The South first): 0-5; 0-7; 0-12; 0-14; 5-14; 7-14; 7-19; 12-19; 14-19 (h-t) 19-19; 21-19; 21-22; 24-22; 29-22; 31-22.
Player-of-the-match: South’s second half renaissance was very much about their forwards winning the frontal battle, and none was more prominent than home town boy Connor Sutherland, whose excellent defence was matched by his equally excellent ball-carrying.
Talking point: Inter District rugby made a telling return with a match that was full of skill, endeavour and, yes, entertainment. It perhaps needs better scheduling — it’s difficult to see how a team can maintain momentum until the next round on 20th December — but it is a feature of the rugby season that the participant players appear to enjoy.
Image: Andy McLean