Varsity 2010: Men's Rugby

Edinburgh’s 1st XV marked a strong and clinical performance over local rivals Heriot-Watt in this Varsity match, scoring eight tries to Heriot-Watt’s three.

The game started on a sad note, as visitors Heriot-Watt’s Ross McLaughlin suffered a bad leg break less than ten minutes into the game. Paramedics were called to the scene, with play stopping for nearly twenty minutes. Both teams seemed subdued because of it, but this soon wore off as Edinburgh quickly racked up nineteen points in the next twenty minutes of play.
Heriot-Watt put in a less than impressive display in the first half, only managing to score a try through Ben Ashcroft in the dying minutes, thanks mostly to a flat backline and weak recycling of possession at the ruck. Edinburgh on the other hand managed to excite the crowd with powerful ambition from the forwards and dynamic running from threequarter James McTurk, who managed to evade the opposition defence to score twice in the game.

In the second half, Heriot-Watt came out with more dynamism, managing to touch down twice thanks to Paul Wilkinson and captain Andrew Hutt, and showing more ambition in the backline throughout the course of the half with clever playmaking from their fly-half. Several ambitious runs from their full-back ended abruptly though, as Edinburgh’s defence rarely seemed to falter throughout the match. Edinburgh racked up over twenty points during the half, exposing the lack of solidity in Heriot-Watt’s defence.

The strong winds seemed to affect one side’s kicking display, as Edinburgh’s Andy Bryans managed only four of eight conversion opportunities, but Heriot-Watt managed to put over for two of their three tries. Neither side seemed to venture into kicking from hand due to the wind, but the fans were pleased to see more focus on running play from either side. As play ended, Edinburgh’s number eight was named as the man of the match in an impressive show from the forwards.

Speaking to The Journal after the match, Edinburgh’s head coach said that he was impressed by the “tightness” of his side’s display: “It’s always bad to ship points to the other side, but we’re very pleased with the victory today, the boys have been through a lot this season, and they’re getting tired as the season goes on, and both sides certainly seemed affected after the Heriot-Watt player had to be taken to hospital, but luckily we managed to carry on playing.”