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Edinburgh player ratings vs Bulls | 2024/25 URC quarter-finals

Ewan Ashman of Edinburgh scores a try during the United Rugby Championship, Quarter Final match between Vodacom Bulls and Edinburgh at Loftus Versfeld on May 31, 2025 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Edinburgh player ratings: Edinburgh’s hopes of reaching a first URC semi-final ended with a 42-33 defeat by the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld.

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Two Ross Thompson tries helped the Scottish side lead 21-8 after 30 minutes but the Bulls turned on the power with five tries either side of the interval in a blitz of 31 unanswered points.

Edinburgh rallied with tries from Ewan Ashman and Wes Goosen around the hour, but couldn’t make further inroads in a frantic finale as a brave effort came up short.

Here is how the Edinburgh players fared:

Match Summary

2
Penalty Goals
0
6
Tries
5
3
Conversions
4
0
Drop Goals
0
97
Carries
111
6
Line Breaks
7
13
Turnovers Lost
11
4
Turnovers Won
7

15. Wes Goosen – 8
Took his early first try superbly by stepping on the gas and dotting down in the left corner. A safe pair of hands at the back, always dangerous on the counter and on the end of a superb attack to claim his second score.

14. Darcy Graham – 6
Needed treatment early on after being clattered by opposite number De Klerk but returned to the fray after 10 minutes off for an HIA. Exposed defensively by Le Roux for Bulls’ fourth try when he came out of the line but a bit of trademark magic sparked a superb move for Goosen’s second try.

13. Matt Currie – 6.5
Dangerous and willing runner who linked well with his back three, particularly in one exchange with Paterson up the left flank. Contributed 10 carries and was still taking the fight to the Bulls in the latter stages.

12. James Lang – 6
Another who contributed well in attack when Edinburgh were manipulating the Bulls defence in the first half, which he ended by winning a vital turnover as the hosts threatened another try. Influence waned though and forced off after 52 minutes.

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11. Harry Paterson – 5.5
Escaped up the left in the first half after a neat link-up with Currie before the attack floundered with a penalty conceded at the ruck. Found good distance in his clearing kicks.

10. Ross Thompson – 7.5
Took both his tries superbly – only his second and third for Edinburgh. Spotted a mis-match for his first, with Wilco Louw in front of him, and stepped and twisted away from defenders for his second. Kicked four from four at goal but sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on on the hour and didn’t return.

9. Ali Price – 6.5
Playing his final game for the club before heading to pastures new this summer, the scrum-half kept at it for the full 80, keeping the tempo high in an excellent first half and relieving pressure with some pinpoint kicking. Hesitant in defence for the Vorster try, but can hold his head high.

1. Pierre Schoeman – 5
Tough day at the office for the Lions selection. Helped win a scrum penalty in the first half and made his fair share of tackles but unusually, barely seen with ball in hand, with only two carries to his name. A day his team needed more from him.

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2. Ewan Ashman – 7
One overthrown lineout when he missed Ritchie but otherwise found his targets at lineout time, scrummaged hard under severe pressure and took his try well before departing on the hour.

3. Darcy Rae – 5
Forced off for an HIA in the first half but returned to the fray. Struggled with the power of Wessels at scrum-time and visibly tired in the punishing heat and altitude, conceding an offside penalty before being replaced by Sebastian.

4. Marshall Sykes – 5.5
A day of unremitting toil in the trenches for the big lock, who put his body on the line and got through a ton of work but struggled to disrupt more powerful opponents.

5. Sam Skinner – 6.5
With no second-row cover on the bench, both locks had to go the full 80 in the heat. Skinner ran an efficient lineout operation and one superb floated pass to Bennett in the lead-up to Goosen’s second try showed he is not just a piano shifter.

6. Jamie Ritchie – 6.5
Fired up on what proved to be his final game for the club – his 130th – before joining Perpignan this summer. Safe lineout option at the front but conceded a couple of penalties – one overturned after he shoved Coetzee. Promptly won a vital turnover and then stole a Bulls lineout before departing in the 52nd minute.

7. Hamish Watson – 7
The old stager may not be quite the menace on the floor or the pinball wizard in attack of his halcyon days but still put in a huge defensive shift, topping the tackle count with 18.

8. Magnus Bradbury – 7.5
Tidied up well and the stand-in captain took the fight to the Bulls with some muscular carries – 21 of them in all, nine more than any other Edinburgh player. But will rue the dropped restart when Edinburgh had got back to 39-28, that allowed Bulls to keep their noses in front.

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Replacements
16. Paddy Harrison – 5.5
Brought energy in the final quarter with half a dozen carries as Edinburgh briefly threatened a late comeback.

17. Boan Venter – 6
The consistency of Schoeman deprives him of more opportunities but brought set-piece strength and some powerful rumbles for the final 30 minutes.

18. Javan Sebastian – 6.5
Got a 10-minute run-out in the first half and helped steady the scrum when he replaced Rae for the final half-hour, putting himself about in the loose too in his final game before leaving this summer.

19. Liam McConnell – N/A
The academy graduate came on for the final seven minutes after replacing Bradbury. Invaluable experience in only his fourth senior outing.

20. Ben Muncaster – 7
Unlucky not to start, the back-rower brought plenty of belligerence and dynamism to help spark Edinburgh’s final-quarter rally. A likely Scotland tourist this summer and should continue to prosper next season.

21. Conor McAlpine Not used

22. Ben Healy – 4
Deployed for the final 10 minutes after Thompson’s sin-bin period ended. One misdirected cross-kick that almost went backwards signed off a disappointing season for the former Munster man.

23. Mark Bennett – 6
An early replacement when Graham departed for an HIA, then introduced for Lang after 52 minutes. One brilliant break showed the former Scotland centre still has plenty to offer despite no longer having a future with Edinburgh.

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I
IkeaBoy 34 minutes ago
Can Les Bleus avoid a Black-wash in New Zealand?

Forgive me, I meant BILLIONAIRES.


Altrad (Montpellier), Lorenzetti (Racing 92) & Wild (Stade Francais) have a combined NET worth of more than €10 billion! Altrad even gets to kit sponsor the national team despite the conflict of interest that would bring.


They are all cash cows as teams who go some length without winning major trophies still yield huge returns on the money their owners pump into them. The prize money is of little consequence even to serial winners. Any time they need a cash injection, they just hit up an investment partner.


Fiducial – the largest private shareholder in the league - has a 12% interest in Toulouse. They wouldn’t have to pay much in to get a cut of the €700 million broadcast deal, the bulk of which goes to the Top 14.  


Dupont – the league and indeed the games poster boy – is the product of rural dairy farmers rather fittingly as he is milked. His salary is a fraction of what he generates for his club, his country and for the sport.  Cash cow. And now recovering from his second major injury in as many years.


The clubs certainly don’t mess about when it comes to pumping money into the game but look at it in inflation terms.  It’s never at a higher rate year on year than the increase in their TV and broadcast deals. 


The club game has always been France’s priority. They got kicked out of the 5 Nations for almost 15 years because they paid players to play the game at club level despite its amateur status at the time. They were so very resistant to the eventual professionalism of the game. And openly so.


Their former Vichy government quite literally banned rugby league as a sport to clear the way for rugby union!


It’s a great league to watch and well supported but it’s a money league.  If you are going to mix metaphors and compare sports it’s not the French soccer league but the Saudi oil leagues that is a better comparison.  That’s what the Top 14 is in relative terms.


A lot of their current dealings around salary caps are shady. Proper shady. It was only a couple of seasons ago when Jaminet was ‘loaned’ 450K as a disguised payment to buy out his own contract to then move clubs. Interest free as well…

331 Go to comments
f
fl 2 hours ago
Springboks' dominance of the world rankings comes under increased threat

“Ireland entered RWC 2023 a full 12 points clear of England. They were only 5 ahead at the end. So England gained a massive 7 points against Ireland which is not a reflection of how either teams played: far from it.”

I completely disagree here! Ireland played better than England, but they started the tournament ranked first in the world on 91.82 points. Obviously Ireland were not the best team at the tournament so it makes sense that their ranking got (slightly) worse. England began the tournament ranked 8th on 79.95 points. Obviously they played much much better than that, particularly when you consider that they were ranked below Fiji and Argentina, and beat both of those teams (Argentina twice!) during the tournament, so a significant improvement in the rankings was deserved.


“The swing between England and Scotland was 6 points towards England. Scotland didn’t do much wrong bar get a ridiculous draw with Ireland and South Africa. They were #5th at the time but were literally eliminated by the draw.”

Again - that swing makes perfect sense when you consider England’s ranking before the tournament. England were rewarded for beating teams ranked ahead of them. Scotland had a horrible draw that led to them being unfairly forced out of the competition, but they weren’t really punished in the rankings - their ranking score went from 84.01 to 83.43; barely a change.


“Wales benefitted by the draw in 2023.”

They benefitted in the sense that they made a QF that they would not have made had they swapped places with Scotland, but they didn’t really benefit in the rankings. Their ranking rose from 78.26 to 80.64 because they won a pool containing Fiji and Australia - two teams ranked ahead of them at the start of the comp.


“In 2019 they made a semi after a French player was sent off early in that quarter final. So they benefitted from the double points in the RWC.”

You can only rise significantly in the rankings by beating teams considered better than you. Wales’ ranking only rose by 0.5 points after beating France, because France were considered at the time to be a worse side. The double points therefore only helped Wales by 0.25 points.


“if they stay 14th and 13 teams do better than them in the RWC then their defecit will widen and doubly so because the loss would be doubled.”

If Wales keep playing badly they will decline in the rankings, but they will hardly decline at all if they only lose to teams ranked above them. E.g. Using today’s ranking points, lets imagine Wales drew Ireland, Fiji, and Romania in their pool, losing against the first two but beating Romania, then lost to France in the R16. The worst case scenario (losing to Fiji, Ireland, and France by more than 15 points, and beating Romania by less than 15) would only lose Wales 0.66 points. The alternate scenario (coming within 15 points of Fiji and beating Romania by more than 15) would lose Wales just 0.29 points.

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