Rugby by John Preece
Edinburgh crashed to a 55-12 defeat at Meggetland on Friday night in Greg Laidlaw’s final home match before he goes off the Gloucester. Munster were the opposition and they were on the rebound from a Heineken Cup loss the previous week. Edinburgh scored first, with a try from Bezuidenhout, but Munster had soon taken a 10-5 lead. A try from Nel was to prove the final points for Edinburgh as Munster went on to score a further six tries – including two penalty tries – to win the match, very convincingly, by that 55-12 scoreline.
Better news was on the cards for Scotland’s sevens team in Glasgow. They topped their pool on day 1, beating Australia, USA and Spain to qualify for the Cup competition for the first time this season- and only the third time ever. Day 2 wasn’t quite as successful, however. In spite of beating South Africa, they had the hopes of a final place snatched away by Canada. They were then beaten by Fiji in the third/fourth play-off match so finished fourth overall, the best result for Scottish side since 2009 in London. The team also rises to tenth in the World rankings, from twelfth. As expected, New Zealand took the honours in Glasgow, demolishing Canada 54-7 to take the trophy and put themselves in pole position to retain the overall title.
Football
A dramatic late Sam Stanton header gave Hibs a share of the points against Partick Thistle at Easter Road. Kris Doolan gave the visitors an early lead then goalkeeper Paul Gallacher made a string of sensational saves as Hibs dominated possession.
Stanton’s equaliser now means that Hibs can avoid the dreaded play-off spot with a win against Ross County in Dingwall on Tuesday night.
On Sunday Hearts hammered second bottom side Kilmarnock 5-0 thanks to a Ryan Stevenson first half hat trick then goals from Billy King and Callum Paterson after the break secured the Jambo’s biggest win of the season and did neighbours Hibs a massive favour.
East of Scotland Shield
Hibs amazing record in the World’s oldest ongoing tournament continued with a 2-0 win over Hearts at Easter Road on Sunday. Goals from Jordan McGregor and Oliver Shaw ensured that the famous trophy remains in the Hibs’ boardroom for the 10th consecutive year.
Scottish Sun Lowland League
Selkirk 1-3 Edinburgh City
Spartans 1-1 Dalbeattie Star
Threave Rovers 2-1 Preston Athletic
Vale of Leithen 2-3 University of Stirling
Whitehill Welfare 2-2 Gretna 2008
Central Taxis East of Scotland League, First Division
Berwick Rangers EOS 7-2 Eyemouth United
Kelso United 2-1 Hawick Royal Albert
Hawick Royal Albert 2-5 Peebles Rovers
King Cup, Second Round
Heriot-Watt University 2-3 Preston Athletic
Hibernian EOS 3-2 Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale (AET)
Central Taxis East of Scotland League Cup, First Round
Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale 3-0 Leith Athletic
Stirling University EOS 1-5 Spartans EOS
Women’s Football
Buchan 2-5 Spartans
Forfar 1-1 Inverness
Hibs 1-0 Celtic
City 2-0 Aberdeen
Queens Park 1-4 Rangers
Hamilton 1-1 Hutchison Vale
Hockey by John Preece
In the FIH Champions Challenge in Glasgow, Scotland were left to fight out seventh/eighth place with India as results hadn’t quite gone their way. India have improved gradually throughout the tournament and had already been beaten by Scotland earlier in the week. 0-0 at half time, India scored first only to have their lead wiped out a few minutes later. However, with only seven minutes to go, they had increased their lead to 3-1 and looked likely to win the match, but three late goals by Scotland, the third with less than two minutes to play, ensured that it was the visiting side who carried off the ‘Wooden Spoon’, courtesy of a 4-3 loss.
Korea took the fifth/sixth place match after being all square, 1-1, with Belgium at full time. With the match going to penalties, Korea netted two to Belgium’s one, so took the match and fifth place.
The third/fourth play-off was fought out by a disappointed South Africa and unfancied Spain. 0-0 at half time, the crowd had to wait until three minutes from time to see South Africa score the winner and take third, their highest placing since 2009, when they had finished second.
The final was USA v Ireland. Ireland scored first with a ‘post PC’ play that saw the ball returned into the ‘D’ and deflected high into the net after only three minutes. The USA team were struggling to get going and were being pressured by Ireland, but by half time, they had found their feet and gone 2-1 up. Scoring in the 25th minute, they had another on the card right on the stroke of half time to go into the break 2-1 ahead. They scored their third 15 minutes in and then held the lead – despite some strong Irish play and losing two players to yellow cards – to take the title 3-1. USA now go on to the 2016 Champions Trophy, but Ireland came away with two ‘Players of the Tournament’ – Megan Frazer won the Player’s award and Emma Gray was the Goalkeeper of the Tournament.
Speedway
The Scotwaste Monarchs’ run of victories continued on Friday night as early season League leaders Scunthorpe were sent packing by 59-34 with all of the home riders contributing good scores.
Team boss Alex Harkess later told the Monarchs’ website “We were in very good form, and it’s just as well Scunthorpe had a couple of decent guests!”
With no meeting at home next Friday Monarchs now have three away matches on the trot, but anything is possible with this excellent team.
Photograph by John Preece
http://www.photoboxgallery.com/jlp-photography
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
