Edinburgh Rugby revert back to 2023 as teenage winger steals Stormers show

They defeated the Stormers 17-13 with a courageous second-half performance to make it two wins out of two in the United Rugby Championship. It is the first time since 2023 they have begun the season with back-to-back victories.

The hero at the Hive was Rory McHaffie, the 19-year-old winger from Peebles, who, on his home debut, scored what turned out to be the winning try with nine minutes remaining.

While Edinburgh had fizzed and crackled in their campaign opener at Ulster last week, this was more about grit and determination. On a windy night at Hive Stadium, there was little to entertain the 6,652 supporters in the first half. But the game came to life after the break.

Paul Hill bagged the first try of the night for the hosts but the Stormers came back strongly and took the lead through Hacjivah Dayimani. Edinburgh needed to dig deep and James Grayson spotted McHaffie in space for the vital score.

They now share the lead with Cardiff at the top of the URC standings. Early days of course, but this has been a hugely encouraging start by Sean Everitt's side, who face Zebre in Parma next weekend.

The thrilling rugby played by Edinburgh in Belfast last week was conspicuous by its absence, in the first half at least. The weather didn’t help. This time last year, Edinburgh had their first home game of the season postponed due to Storm Amy. It wasn’t quite on that scale but it was blustery nonetheless.

Grayson harnessed the wind to good effect early on, slotting over a penalty from around 45 metres to put Edinburgh 3-0 ahead. Little did we know they were to be the only points of the half.

Stormers’ lineout goes to pieces

The South Africans lost their hooker André-Hugo Venter after he clashed heads with a team-mate. Vernon Paulo replaced him and struggled horribly at the lineout, the Stormers losing six or seven on their own throw in the first half alone.

Edinburgh had the wind at their backs but it was hardly plain sailing. They kicked it out on the full twice and struggled for cohesion on the rare occasions they managed to cut loose.

Things were summed up when a bullet pass from Kienan Higgins intended for Magnus Bradbury evaded the Edinburgh co-captain and struck the touch judge in the midriff.

The home side finally carved out an opportunity five minutes before half-time when they won a scrum penalty. Grayson kicked to the corner and Edinburgh won the lineout and tried to force their way over. Several of their big men had a go before Bradbury appeared to ground the ball only to be penalised for a double movement.

The Stormers took eight minutes of the second half to restore parity and another couple to take the lead. Freddy Douglas was penalised and Yaqeen Ahmed took full advantage this time, squaring things up at 3-3. The Stormers stand-off repeated the trick soon after, again from close range, to put the visitors ahead for the first time. In between, Edinburgh lost Matt Currie to an HIA, with McHaffie coming on.

The hosts then changed their entire front row as they chased the elusive first try.

Seven minutes later, it came. Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, who had replaced Harri Morris, made a superb break and while the Stormers were able to stop him short, Hill was there to finish things off. Credit to Everitt, his replacement front-rowers had made the breakthrough.

Grayson converted to make it 10-6 and the Stormers had Seabelo Senatla yellow-carded for his illegal attempts to stop Edinburgh’s try.

The numerical advantage didn’t last long, with Douglas joining the South African winger in the sin-bin as momentum swung towards the Stormers.

Wandi Simelane, who’d only been on the field for a matter of seconds, thought he had got over for the visitors but the winger had put a foot in touch as went round Piers O’Conor. The try was delayed only momentarily. Stormers had penalty advantage and opted for the scrum. They shoved the Edinburgh pack all the way to their line before No 8 Dayimani picked off the back and showed great strength to score. Ahmed’s conversion made it 13-10 to the men from Cape Town.

The home supporters continued to noisily back their team and they were rewarded with McHaffie’s try in the 71st minute. Edinburgh had managed to suck in the Stormers defence and found space on the left when Grayson hurled the ball wide. It bounced twice before McHaffie collected and dived over. Grayson’s conversion, from close to the touchline, made 17-13 to Edinburgh.

Edinburgh conceded a penalty with 10 seconds remaining which the Stormers kicked to the corner but the home side stole the lineout and kicked the ball dead to seal the win.

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