Edinburgh beat Black Lion to book home Round of 16

• 19 Jan 2025
• News

Edinburgh booked their place in the knockout stages of the EPCR Challenge Cup, securing a home Round of 16, after beating Black Lion 36-15 at Hive Stadium this afternoon.

Edinburgh played the entire second-half with 14 men after Magnus Bradbury was shown a red card for a dangerous tackle, but the capital side were too strong for the Georgians who scored two tries late on.

It took just one minute for Edinburgh to open the scoring through Sam Skinner. Ben Healy on kicking duties successfully added the extras.

Edinburgh showed a dominant display of rugby and won the penalty when the Black Lion player was off his feet in the ruck. Ben Healy went for the posts and kicked with ease.

Edinburgh’s discipline started to slip, and Pierre Schoeman was shown a yellow card for playing the 9. Black Lion then kicked their only points of the first half through their co-captain Luka Matkava.

Edinburgh made a comeback and worked hard to get up the pitch. After the ball was shipped from width to width, Wes Goosen crossed the whitewash on the far-right side.

Healy added the extras with ease.  Less than seven minutes later, captain for the day, Luke Crosbie crashed over for the third try of the day. Healy still going well on the boot.

Shortly after, Magnus Bradbury was shown a red card for a dangerous tackle. Within minutes, Black Lions Giorgi Chkhartishvili was shown a yellow for a cynical infringement. Edinburgh thought they had a try, but the referee deemed otherwise. That closed out the first half.

HT: Edinburgh 24 Black Lion 3

Within three minutes, centre Matt Currie scored a try with Healy’s extras good. Six minutes later, Paddy Harrison had found himself out on the left wing just in time to dart over.

The conversion however, unsuccessful. Around 60 minutes, Ben Healy was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle.

Edinburgh racked up the penalty count against them and Black Lion were able to capitalise and score their first try of the game. Moments later they had crossed the whitewash again. Black Lion looked to score again but they were bundled into touch and that was the end of the game.

FT: Edinburgh 36 Black Lion 15

Edinburgh: W Goosen, D Graham, M Currie, J Lang, L Wells, B Healy, C Shiel; P Schoeman, P Harrison, P Hill, M Sykes, S Skinner, T Dodd, L Crosbie CAPTAIN, M Bradbury. Subs: E Ashman, B Venter, J Sebastian, G Young, H Watson, A Price, R Thompson, M Tuipulotu.

Black Lion: L Tsirekidze, A Tabutsadze, T Kakhoidze, I Metreveli, S Aptsiauri, L Matkava CO – CAPTAIN, T Peranidze; V Kakovin, S Mamukashvili, B Tchumbadze, M Babunashvili, G Ganiashvili, S Mamamtavrishvili, M Gachechiladze, L Ivanishvili CO – CAPTAIN. Subs: I Kvatadze, N Khatiashvili, C Chkhartishvili, L Chachanidze, D Epremidze, D Khuroshvili, A Shvangiradze, S Todua.

Player of the Match: Luke Crosbie

Referee: Jeremy Rozier (FRA)