Crusaders claim a victory in a very close encounter in Edinburgh

REPORT

• North Wales Crusaders claim a victory in a first ever meeting between Crusaders and Edinburgh Giants.

• North Wales Crusaders make history by becoming the first ever non-Scottish side to take on the Giants up in Scottish capital.

• The Crusaders came back from an 8-0 early deficit and a second half fight back to claim the victory.

Two games were on the schedule with the first teams from each club going head-to-head in the 12.40 kick off and it was the Giants who came out of the blocks early racing into an 8-0 lead in the first 10 minutes through tries from Calum Davidson.

The ever-present Sarah Devlin was on hand on numerous occasions to negate the kick pressure from the Crusaders, getting the Giants on the front foot with some excellent kick returns.

The experience of North Wales meant they didn’t panic, and their first purple patch came from minutes 10 to 20 where they got themselves back into the game through well worked tries with two for Stephen Halsey and Jess Booth, Halsey adding the extras on each occasion.

Davidson crossed for the Giants for his third of the day completing a first half hat-trick.

A kick chase in the 28th minute led to a collision in the in-goal area and the resulting sin binning of Giants player Calum Davidson for a dangerous tackle on Crusaders youngster Matthew Turner.

Crusaders were able to capitalise on the extra player and ran in tries from Halsey, Jones and Martin Turner taking the score to 36-18 at the break.

Crusaders got the game under way in the second half with the Giants back up to the full complement of 5 knew they were chasing the game, which showed at times with some unforced errors.

The Giants crossed with tries from Cadyn Thomson, John Willans to start to close the gap but a spirited Crusaders team didn’t back down and Wyatt Jones who was excellent throughout dotted down their second try of the day.

Calum Davidson and Connor Blackmore's link up play had gone up a level alongside great work from David Hill and Cassandra Cooper to build the platform.

Davidson would go on to score a further 3 tries taking his haul for the afternoon to 6 with Willans adding the extras taking his total to 6 conversions for the day.

It was the experience of Welsh international Stephen Halsey and his game management that would see the Crusaders take the spoils first setting up Matthew Turner before crossing himself and then putting the game to bed in the last 90 seconds with a drop goal that would prove to the be the last points of the day.

NORTH WALES CRUSADERS: Stephen Halsey, Jess Booth, Wyatt Jones, Martin Turner, Matthew Turner

Tries: Halsey x3, Jones x2, Booth, Mar. Turner, Mat. Turner

Goals: Halsey 8/8

Drop-Goals: Halsey

Edinburgh Giants: Callum Davidson, Cadyn Thomson, Junior Player, Katie Renker, Sarah Devlin, Connor Blackmore, Mark Robertson, John Willans, Hamish Douglas, Cassandra Cooper, David Hill, Alison Murray, Charlie Bystrom

Tries: Davidson x6, Thomson, Willans

Goals: Willans 5/8

North Wales Crusaders Player of the Match: Wyatt Jones

Edinburgh Giants Player of the Match: Callum Davidson

Referees: Alex Chandler, Danii S