East beats West at BT Murrayfield – Take Two
The second East v West match-up of the day was the U20 Academy Cup match between Edinburgh and Glasgow and The West. Scottish Rugby listed the Academy as one of its five key policy initiatives, with reinstatement of a regional championship final, played at BT Murrayfield, to stand as a landmark in the progress of the programme.
The match was played on the International pitch following straight on from the women’s match played earlier that afternoon and it started at a furious pace with both sides attacking well from possession. However, Glasgow were the first team on the score sheet with a fine try from a breakdown by scrum half, Jack Preston.
Edinburgh regained possession of the ball soon after the restart and proceeded to march Glasgow back into their own half before a move started by No. 9, Charlie Shiel, outside the 22 on the left of the field, was finished off by the same player as he darted through the defence to touch down on the far side of the pitch. Full back, Blair Kinghorn then added the extras for a 7-5 Edinburgh lead with 15 minutes of the match played.
Glasgow were next on the score board from a penalty after 20 minutes from the boot of Josh Henderson, but then Edinburgh began to exert some dominance on the game. A series of probes at the Glasgow defence ended poorly with the ball being dropped, but pressure eventually told and, with less than five minutes of the half left, when No 8, Ally Miller collected a fine offload from Shiel which saw him in the clear to dot down behind the posts. Kinghorn slotted home the conversion and ‘East’ were 14-5 to the good.
Just before the break, Glasgow were awarded – yet another – penalty and Henderson saw the kick over to go into the break at 14-11 to Edinburgh.
The second half was almost wholly dominated by Edinburgh and a further six tries in the second half from Cameron Gray, Craig Willis, Malcolm Jack, Ally Greg, Luke Crosby and Ben Appleson, ably supported by Kinghorn’s boot, took the final score way out to 48-14 – Henderson netting Glasgow’s solitary score with a penalty – for an overwhelming victory in the first of, what should be, a series of matches over the next few years.
Glasgow and The West, for their part, kept pounding away right up the final whistle, but ultimately, failed to break down Edinburgh’s defence and were penalised in over time to bring the match to a close in Edinburgh’s 22.
Images from the match will appear here over the next few days
