DHL Stormers v Edinburgh: How Edinburgh reached the URC play-off quarter-finals

Edinburgh Rugby are gearing up for Saturday’s United Rugby Championship quarter-final away to DHL Stormers in Cape Town. This is how they got there ...

SEASON SNAPSHOT

If the capital had hosted all Vodacom United Rugby Championship matches this season, it is logical to assume Edinburgh would be hosting a quarter-final instead of migrating south to face the DHL Stormers in Cape Town.

Mike Blair’s team lost as many home matches as Leinster and the DHL Stormers, that is to say one, and ended the regular season with a 28-11 victory against Glasgow at Murrayfield for a record seven wins and one draw in nine matches at home.

Emiliano Boffelli has been a star perforemer for Edinburgh in the URC Championship. Picture: Paul Devlin / SNS

Turning their respective home grounds into a fortress pushed Leinster and the DHL Stormers to the top of the table but Edinburgh finished seventh after putting Glasgow to the sword.

Miserable away form rained on Edinburgh’s campaign as six of nine expeditions resulted in defeat. Having started the season with six wins from eight matches, Edinburgh slumped to a run of three consecutive losses at Ospreys, Leinster, Munster. After hammering Connacht at Murrayfield, Edinburgh then punctuated two more away losses with a memorable victory in Durban before salvaging their playoff dreams with home wins against Zebre and Glasgow.

STAR PERFORMER

Emiliano Boffelli edges fly-half Blair Kinghorn for the honour as the fullback was the more prolific goal-kicker of the two.

Boffelli and Kinghorn each scored six tries in 12 appearances for Edinburgh, but Boffelli contributed an additional 72 points off the tee, finishing among the URC’s most accurate sharpshooters by converting almost 90 percent of his kicks at goal.

The 40-capped Argentina back scored 21 points in a big win against Connacht and 13 in the decisive win that pushed Edinburgh above Glasgow on the final standings.

DECISIVE WIN

Facing a crisis of confidence after away losses at Ospreys, Leinster, Munster and Glasgow, Edinburgh collected themselves for a journey to Durban where they blew the Cell C Sharks out of the water.

Heavy rain ensured water was in oversupply at Hollywoodbets Kings Park when the teams met in Round 14. And, aided by the inaccurate kicking of Cell C Sharks flyhalf Curwin Bosch and a yellow card to centre Marius Louw, Edinburgh slipped and slid to a 21-5 win thanks to tries from flyhalf Blair Kinghorn and fullback Emiliano Boffeli.

NEXT UP

What: Vodacom United Rugby Championship quarter-final

Who: DHL Stormers v Edinburgh

Where: DHL Stadium, Cape Town

When: Saturday, June 4. Kick-off is 6pm British Summer Time

How to watch: The match is live on Premier Sports