Students up and running after tough win over Ellon

EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY finally got their season up and running with a hard-fought 22-14 victory at Ellon on Saturday.

Two tries for James Walkinshaw and another for Calum Williams, plus two conversions from Rob Cuthberston, did the damage for the students in the first half, when they made the most of their dominant scrum. Rory Jones added a drop-goal after the break. “We’ve had a lot of guys missing the start of the season, but now that we are back into term time we’re close to having a full squad available and there’s a lot of confidence there,” said captain David Morrison, the brother of Scotland centre Graeme.

That victory lifts the Peffermill boys to eighth in the table, still twelve points behind Murrayfield Wanderers, the early season pace-setters in the National League, who picked up their fourth consecutive bonus point victory with a 57-6 demolition of Linlithgow.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Stuart Young scored three tries, Alex Cox got a brace, while Iain Harper, Barry Turnbull, Andy Baikie and Peter Walker also crossed the whitewash, with Turnbull adding six conversions. “I can’t fault what the boys have achieved so far, but if you look at the table you see that our four victories have come over the bottom three teams in the league and the fifth bottom team,” said coach Bruce Aitchison. “Next week will be a real step up when we take on Musselburgh, who are third after a great win at Dunfermline this weekend.”

That victory for the Stoneyhill men came thanks to tries from Paul Davis, Joe Hickman, Joshua Allen and Robert Lovett, with seven points from the boot of Danny Owneson and four from playmaker David O’Hagan.

It was a bad afternoon for RHC, who were crushed 48-0 by Hawick YM.