Ross McKnight claims hat-trick as Edinburgh lose high-scoring friendly against Saracens
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Edinburgh 45
Saracens 54
FORMER Scotland Under-20s and current Stirling County star Ross McMicheal helped himself to a hat-trick of tries but still ended up on the wrong side of the scoreline as Edinburgh came up short in their mid-season friendly against Saracens at Hive Stadium.
The big winger was one of several players from the club game given a chance to remind the Murrayfield performance department that there is talent and potential in Scotland beyond the academy/pro-team roster by the capital side in this hit–out against a Saracens team featuring Scotland squad members.
Academy/emerging prospects Tom Currie, Harri Morris, Liam McConnell, Euan McVie, Conor McAlpine and try-scorer Sam Leweni all showed their potential in this hastily arranged fixture at Hive Stadium, while McKnight, Freddie Owsley, Ed Hasdell and Jamie Shedden, who scored a late try for the capital outfit, all helped demonstrate that the skill deficit between the top of the club game and the pro game is not as wide as some would have us believe.
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The visitors raced into a 21-0 lead thanks to tries by Tobias Elliot, James Hadfield and Lucio Cinti, before the hosts bounced back with tries from skippper Charlie Shiel and McKnight to make it 12-21 at the break, before replacement winger Sam Leweni streatched the game out of reach.
McKnight grabbed his second try of the match to male it 26-33, and then turned provider, breaking through the Saracens defence before feeding replacement Conor McAlpine, who was illegally halted, resulting in a yellow card for Saracens centre Alex Lozowski.
Edinburgh capitalised, moving the ball wide for Sam Leweni to touch down, making it 31-33. Elliot then secured his own hat-trick for Saracens, extending the lead to 31-38.
The hosts struck cack through replacement Jamie Shedden, scoring after an electric break from Freddie Owsley, who had impressed after being drafted in from Watsonians on the day.
Two minutes later, Cammy Scott scored what was arguably the try of the match, finishing an excellent passage of play featuring incredible breaks and offloads from Leweni, Jerry Blyth Lafferty and Mikey Jones, which briefly put Edinburgh into a 45-40 lead.
Teams –
Edinburgh: R McCann; S Leweni, M Bennett, F Thomson, R McKnight; C Scott, C Shiel (c); R Hislop, H Morris, J Sebastian, R Carmichael, G Young, E McVie, T Currie, L McConnell. Subs: J Blyth-Lafferty, M Jones, A Williams, E Hasdell, C McAlpine, J Shedden.
Saracens: T Elliot; R Segun, A Lozowski, O Hartley, L Cinti; F Burke, I van Zyl (c); E Mawi, J Hadfield, F Balmain, H Tizard, H Wilson, T McFarland, M Eke, N Michelow. Subs: J Isaaca, R Carre, A Clarey, K Pearce-Paul, J Gonzalez, G Simpson, L Johnson, B Jackson, P Brantingham, K Sylvester, A Onyeama-Christie, R Hammick, J Hallett, C Bracken.
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