Lions mauled by high flying Eagles

Edinburgh Eagles 58 - 6 Fife Lions

The defending Scottish Champions, Edinburgh Eagles, reached their fourth successive Summer Conference Final with an impressive 58-6 victory over Fife Lions on Saturday.

The Eagles, who have several players in the squad for next week's Amateur International against England, took the match to the Lions from the start.

The departure of Edinburgh and Scotland Amateur Captain, Steve Bisset after 5 minutes was an early blow, as a recurrence of a shoulder injury also puts him doubtful for the International clash.

It was the home side who scored first, with debutant Arron Cowie scoring his first of four tries after 5 minutes. Fellow Kiwi, Hohua converted to put the Eagles in the driving seat early on.

After 25 minutes, more enterprising play between the Eagles forwards left a gap on the right wing and Fairlie-Clark was on hand to waltz through for a score.

The Lions bounced back into action after the re-start and from the following set of six, the ball was shipped about before finally allowing the Fife forwards to construct a try.

Their comeback was to be short lived as a double from Cowie within a 6 minute spell pulled the Eagles away even further. Hohua and Dickson obliged with their conversion attempts to bring a half-time score of 24-6.

The Eagles started the second half in a similar vein and the elusive Amateur Internationalist, Ross Neil, slip in for an impressive solo try.

The Lions could now only play for pride and they set off down the infamous Wardie slope in search of another score. It looked as if they had managed to squeeze the ball over the line in the 50th minute, but the ball was knocked-on by an unfortunate Lions prop just two metres short.

The Eagles went on to run in further tries through Gilbert, Matulino, Dickson (2) and Cowie. Dickson kicked four conversions to make the final score 58-6.

The Eagles now go on to play the Portobello Playboys in a re-run of the 1999 Final, which Edinburgh won 48-20. The game will be played at Cavalry Park, home of the Playboys on 27th July. The Glasgow Bulls will play the Fife Lions in the Plate Final in the curtain raiser.

Source - Mark Brown

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