Edinburgh Rugby have made a great start but history tells us not to get carried away
Talking points from Edinburgh’s 17-13 win over the Stormers at Hive Stadium
Edinburgh Rugby defeated the Stormers 17-13 at Hive Stadium to make it two wins from two in the new United Rugby Championship season.
Second-half tries from Paul Hill and Rory McHaffie proved decisive for the home side against the South African visitors. The Stormers scored through Hacjivah Dayimani in between the two Edinburgh tries and led 13-10 late on before McHaffie had the final say.
Here are four talking points from the hard-fought victory:
Bright start is no guarantee of success
By winning their first two games, Edinburgh have made their best start to a URC campaign since 2023, Sean Everitt’s first in charge of the side. Three years ago, they opened with an away win over the Dragons and then beat the Lions at home by a point a week later before losing to Leinster in Dublin in round three.
Two years ago, they kicked off with three defeats, to Leinster, the Bulls and the Lions, and last season they opened with two losses, to Zebre and Munster.
Bright starts are not always a guarantee of success, of course. Edinburgh failed to make the play-offs in 2023-24 but they did qualify a year later, despite the sticky opening.
Edinburgh now have the opportunity to make it three wins in a row when they travel to Parma next weekend to take on Zebre, last season’s bottom club.
Brother beyond: JBL > OBL
Much of the talk pre-match had been about impressive prop Ollie Blyth-Lafferty and his chances of making Scotland’s squad for the Rugby World Cup next year. The tighthead is an outstanding prospect but was eclipsed on the night by his older brother, Jerry.
Jerry, a 22-year-old hooker, came off the bench against the Stormers at the same time his brother was going off and he helped light up the game with a brilliant run which led to Paul Hill’s try.
The timing of the substitutions means there was a Blyth-Lafferty on the field for the full 80 minutes though they were never on at the same time. Both impressed as part of a promising crop of Edinburgh youngsters who are helping turbo-charge the club’s exciting start to the new season.
Super subs make big difference
Head coach Everitt went to his bench early in a tight game. He replaced his entire front row after 51 minutes and it paid dividends for the try scored by Hill, the replacement tighthead.
Rory McHaffie was introduced in the 49th minute when Matt Currie had to go off for a head injury assessment he subsequently failed. The teenager had made his debut a week before in the win over Ulster and this was his home bow.
McHaffie, 19, made sure it was a night to remember by scoring the winning try in the 71st minute after James Grayson had spotted him in space out wide. The winger from Peebles still had plenty to do but showed good composure to gather the bouncing ball and score in the corner.
Another sub, Tom Currie, also made a notable contribution as Edinburgh held on at the end.
Eavesdropping on the Stormers lineout chaos
It was windy at the Hive, particularly in the first half, but that doesn’t excuse a torrid evening at the lineout for the Stormers.
They won just over half of them on their own throw as Edinburgh proved adept at disrupting the visitors. Liam McConnell was their tormentor in chief and Glen Young also stood tall.
At one point, home scrum-half Hector Patterson seemed to be lugging in to the conversations between Stormers hooker Vernon Paulo and his team-mates and passing on the info to the Edinburgh pack. Either way, it was a torrid night for Paulo who replaced Andre Venter early on.
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