Edinburgh Rugby’s women battled back from a slow start, gained momentum from a try just before half-time and played very well in the second period to defeat rivals Glasgow Warriors with a bonus point at Hive Stadium on December 27 after an entertaining 80 minutes.
When Glasgow led 10-0 after 30 minutes and had dominated possession up to that point it looked like they might be on the way to making it two Celtic Challenge wins out of two.
However, Edinburgh recovered to trail just 15-14 at the interval and then really kicked on to win 31-25 and earn five points to Glasgow’s two.
This was Edinburgh’s first win of the season and their head coach Claire Cruikshank said: “Glasgow really came at us early on and had a lot of possession, but we started to find our shape and the try that we scored just before the break to get us back to within a point really gave us a lift.
“In the second half we knew that we were starting against 14 with them having a yellow card and the players managed that period well. We then took things on from there and scored a few nice tries with Hannah Ramsay, Rachel Philipps and Lisa Brown freeing up space for our dangerous back three.
“Things then got a wee bit tighter than we would have liked towards the end, but I was pleased with the battling qualities and the connectivity the players showed against a good Glasgow side and we can build from here.”
The Edinburgh try scorers here were hooker Aila Ronald, tighthead prop Molly Poolman, captain Hannah Walker, her fellow winger Cieron Bell and sub Nicole Marlow. Stand-off Hannah Ramsay converted three of the tries.
Glasgow’s tries came from centre Beth Blacklock, wingers Hannah Smyth and Sky Phimister and two from co-captain Holland Bogan. Co-captain Ceitidh Ainsworth was yellow carded.
Both sides have one win and one loss now in the competition and will next play on January 10. Edinburgh’s fixture that day is at the Hive against the Wolfhounds.
In Saturday’s other match, Gwalia Lightning defeated Brython Thunder 38-7 with a bonus point and round two concludes on January 3 when Clovers face Wolfhounds.
Edinburgh are pictured celebrating – thanks to Edinburgh Rugby