The Edinburgh Reporter’s Weekly Sports Roundup

Rugby by John Preece

Edinburgh Rugby won their fifth round Heineken Cup match against Perpignan on Saturday night to go into second place in Pool 6. The crowd were treated to a superb match with Edinburgh having the most of the possession and territory.

A brilliantly executed, Tom Brown try in the first half, backed up by the boot of Greg Laidlaw, gave the home side a 13-6 lead at half time. James Hook pulled the visitors up to within four points, but two further tries from Edinburgh took them out to 27-9 lead with less than 10 minutes to play. Perpignan scored their try with just over five minutes left, but it was too late and Edinburgh ran out worthy winners.

Second in Pool 6 with 12 points to Pool leaders, Munster’s, 18, Edinburgh play Munster at Ravenhill next weekend and must win to ensure qualification for the next round. If Perpignan beat Gloucester, then Edinburgh go through regardless, but the French side would be playing for nothing but pride, so may rest a few of their top players with FFR Top 14 matches coming up.

With no club rugby to speak of, it was left to Edinburgh Accies to fill the void with their British and Irish Cup match against London Scottish at Raeburn Place. Played in vastly superior conditions to their London Welsh match, the Accies took an early lead with two penalties. However, London Scottish are playing at the top of the English Championship, and are in touch with the top four clubs, so are no pushovers. They spent the rest of the match proving this, by scoring 32 unanswered points to take the match 32-6. Accies did hold their own for some of the match, but they eventually ran out of steam and spent a fair bit of the second half inside their own 22.

However, compared to their performance against London Welsh, it was a big improvement so they can be proud of what they achieved.

With only one match left in the preliminary rounds against Pontypridd in Wales, they, like Perpignan, will be playing for ‘the jersey’.

Match Report to follow

Football

Two narrow defeats for the Edinburgh clubs this weekend. Hibs travelled to Pittodrie and lost to a late Willo Flood goal in a hard fought encounter which could have gone either way then on Saturday, John Sutton returned to Tynecastle and scored the only goal of the game for Motherwell.

The results mean Hibs drop out of the top six whilst Hearts remain bottom, 20 points behind Partick Thistle.

On the transfer front, Fraser Mullen has left Hibs for Raith Rovers whilst Ross Caldwell and David Gold have moved on loan to Alloa Athletic and Cowdenbeath respectively.

Goalkeeper Paul Grant, 20, returns to Hibs after a six-month loan spell with Berwick Rangers where he recorded 17 appearances.

Hearts’ youngster Adam King has been linked with a £200,000 move to Swansea City.

Hibs Under 20s beat Azerbaijan’s Gabala FK 5-0 in a friendly match in Antalya on Thursday afternoon.

Striker Taylor Hendry scored twice with the other goals coming from Jay Doyle, Bob Wilson and Gareth McCaffrey.

The overseas trip, funded through the Leonardo da Vinci programme, has enabled the young Hibees to prepare for the second half of the season in warm weather and luxurious surroundings.

Hibernian under-20s: Dougie Horne, Andrew Black, Tom Gardiner, Bob Wilson, Ryan Baptie, Euan Smith, Jordan Sinclair, Jamie Beaton, Max Todd, Taylor Hendry, Jay Doyle.

Subs: Kleton Perntreou, Aaron Dunsmore, Neil Martyniuk, Gareth McCaffrey

Scottish Sun Lowland League

Edinburgh City beat Spartans 3-1 at Ainslie Park on Saturday. After a goalless first half, City took the lead against the run of play through Ian McFarland.

Ryan Wilson then added a second with an unstoppable strike before Aaron James made it 3-0 with a well taken free kick.

Keith McLeod pulled one back in injury time from the penalty spot to keep his impressive goal scoring record intact, netting his 12th consecutive strike.

Elsewhere

Scottish Sun Lowland League Cup, Group stage, Section A

Preston Athletic 7-0 Gala Fairydean Rovers

Vale of Leithen 4-1 Selkirk

Scottish Sun Lowland League Cup, Group stage, Section B

University of Stirling 0-0 Whitehill Welfare

Scottish Sun Lowland League Cup, Group stage, Section C

East Kilbride 3-2 Dalbeattie Star

Gretna 2008 1-0 Threave Rovers

Central Taxis East of Scotland League

Central Taxis Premier Division

Coldstream 0-4 Lothian Thistle HV

Craigroyston 5-1 Heriot Watt University

Edinburgh University 1-0 Tynecastle

Leith Athletic 3-3 Spartans

Stirling University P Civil Service Strollers

Central Taxis First Division

Burntisland Shipyard 3-1 Hawick Royal Albert

Duns 0-4 Easthouses Lily

Ormiston 3-1 Eyemouth United

Peebles P Kelso

Bupa Edinburgh Runs

A large field of runners took part in a day of cross country runs and races at Holyrood Park in Saturday. The events got underway in the morning with hundreds of youngsters taking part in the 2.5k Bupa Junior Great Winter Run.

This was followed by thousands of runners taking part in the the 5k Bupa Great Winter Run.

Everyone finishing received a long sleeved souvenir Bupa Great Winter Run t-shirt, medal and electronic timing chip,

Elite athletes from Great Britain, America and the EU later competed in a series of team races

Ice Hockey by John Preece

The Capitals travelled to Nottingham on Saturday to play in the latest weekend of the EIHL league, but failed to continue their winning streak. Separated by a single goal at the end of the first period, Nottingham outscored the visitors 3-1 in the second to take a three goal lead into the third period. They scored a goal apiece in the third, and Nottingham went on to take the match 5-2.

Hull Stingrays were the visitors to Murrayfield on Sunday for the Edinburgh home match. The first period ended with the Stingrays a goal ahead at 2-1. Hull scored first, then Edinburgh equalised soon after, but Hull then scored their second to stay ahead. There was no scoring in the second period, but the third saw Edinburgh draw level before Hull scored their third to lead into the final few minutes. With less than two minutes on the clock, the Capitals scored their third to take the match into, an ultimately goal-less, overtime period.

With penalties on the cards for the second time in two weeks, the players were lined up. Unfortunately, this time, it was the away side that outscored their opponents – 3-2 this week – to take the extra point.

Match report to follow

Basketball

Glasgow University SM   99-85   St Mirren West College Scotland SM

Glasgow Storm   84-68   Stirling Knights SM

City of Edinburgh Kings SM   84-65   Boroughmuir Blaze SM

Clark Eriksson Fury SM   95-67   Glasgow Rocks SM

City of Edinburgh Kool Kats SW   102-44   Tayside Musketeers SW

Polonia Phoenix SW   58-60   Clark Eriksson Fury SW

Volleyball

Division One Men

Beacon Fire 0 3 Edinburgh Jets 14 – 25 12 – 25 14 – 25

Bon Accord 0 3 South Ayrshire  20 – 25 33 – 35 16 – 25

Dundee 0 3 City of Edinburgh 13 – 25 14 – 25 19 – 25

City of Glasgow Ragazzi 2 3 Glasgow Mets 25 – 23 21 – 25 25 – 19 19 – 25 10 – 15

Division One Women

Aberdonia 1 3 North Lanarkshire 27 – 25 18 – 25 16 – 25 18 – 25

Su Ragazzi 1 3 Edinburgh Jets 15 – 25 25 – 20 13 – 25 18 – 25

QTS Kyle TA 0 3 QTS Troon Team Ayrshire 10 – 25 8 – 25 15 – 25

Division Two East

Beacon Flame 0 3 Bellshill Cardinals 23 – 25 14 – 25 4 – 25

Su Ragazzi II 3 1 City of Edinburgh II 26 – 24 28 – 30 28 – 26 25 – 19

Edinburgh Jets II 2 3 NUVOC 18 – 25 25 – 23 14 – 25 25 – 20 4 – 15

Division Two Women

Su Ragazzi II 3 1 NUVOC 25 – 21 23 – 25 25 – 7 25 – 17

Glasgow International 3 0 South Ayrshire 25 – 0 25 – 0 25 – 0

Speedway

The Scotwaste Monarchs’ riders in the Australian Final third leg can be happy with their performances. Max Fricke (10) and Justin Sedgmen (9) made it to the B Final at Gillman while Sam Masters recovered from a slow start to win his last two heats.

Photographs by John Preece

http://www.photoboxgallery.com/jlp-photography