Edinburgh fall short in European opener

• 7 Dec 2024
• News

Edinburgh battled to the final seconds in torrid conditions to secure a losing bonus-point, but ultimately fell just short, 15-10, against last year’s finalists Gloucester at Kingsholm in Round 1 of the EPCR Challenge Cup.

Seb Blake powered over from a driving maul to give Gloucester the lead under challenging swirling wind and rain, before Wes Goosen ran over to level the score shortly before the break.

A Santiago Carreras penalty kick pushed the Cherry and Whites further ahead before Albert Tuisue scored their second try, as Edinburgh had two players sin-binned.

A last-second penalty from Ben Healy came too late for the capital side as Gloucester’s defence held them out, but ensured Edinburgh took away a losing bonus point from the match which could prove valuable in the coming weeks.

Two-times Challenge Cup winners Gloucester met Edinburgh last season in the group stages of this competition in another close affair they won by a single point, on their way to the final where they were eventually beaten by Hollywoodbets Sharks.

With Storm Darragh approaching, the rain began almost on cue at the kick-off with it whipping around under the stadium lights.

Edinburgh lost scrum-half and captain Ben Vellacott to injury in the warm-ups, which meant Charlie Sheil was handed a start while giving Connor McAlpine a place on the bench for his first taste of pro rugby.

An attritional start was to be expected considering the weather and it was Gloucester who coped better, kicking to the corner after winning their second scrum to make the breakthrough after 11 minutes, before their maul drove over in the right-hand corner for hooker Blake to touch down.

Gloucester continued to win the battle at the breakdown and push forward, but for all their possession they failed to put any more points on the board, as Edinburgh lost Freddy Douglas to an early injury.

Val Rapava-Ruskin made a big carry to take Gloucester forward but they were turned over, and while they came back at Edinburgh the hosts quickly found themselves on the backfoot when centre Matt Currie burst through their defence, only for Gareth Anscombe to intercept a try-saving pass in a two-on-one.

The errors started creeping in as the weather worsened and Edinburgh nearly capitalised when a grubber kick ricocheted off an Edinburgh leg and bounced the opposite way into acres of space.

Goosen reacted quickest, darting to chase his own kick-on, and dived at the five-metre line only to end up agonisingly short of a score.

Goosen was able to redeem himself minutes before the break as he finally got Edinburgh on the scoreboard, shrugging off a tackle from Carreras to go over after the ball was spread wide from a line-out.

Carreras’ penalty kick nudged Gloucester ahead as they continued to stay on top through the early phases of the second half while still struggling to make it count.

Winger Christian Wade fell short of touching down his own chip kick in the corner, and Gloucester looked to have scored when Edinburgh flanker Tom Dodd was shown yellow for dragging down a maul, but they were deemed to have been held up over the line after a lengthy TMO check.

Marshall Sykes was next to go into the bin for a head collision with Anscombe before Gloucester struck for their second try as the forwards drove over the line for Tuisue to touch down.

Gloucester’s defence held off a late Edinburgh charge inside the final 10 minutes as Ben Healy’s penalty with the last kick of the match closed the scoreline to five points.

Gloucester: Carreras; Wade, Harris, Llewellyn, Hathaway; Anscombe, Englefield; Rapava-Ruskin, Blake, Gotovtsev; Clark, Alemanno, Thomas, Ludlow (c), Ackermann.

Replacements: Singleton, Knight, Fasogbon, Taylor, Tuisue, Chapman, Butler, Barton.

Edinburgh: Goosen; McCann, Currie, Tuipulotu, Sweeney; Thompson, Shiel, Venter, Harrison, Hill, Sykes, Skinner, Dodd, Douglas, Bradbury (c).

Replacements: Cherry, Jones, Rae, Carmichael, McConnell, McAlpine, Healy, Lang.

Sin-bin: Dodd (51 mins), Sykes (60 mins).

Referee: Ludovic Cayre.