Edinburgh seal bonus point win as they storm back to beat Thunder in Llanelli

Edinburgh Rugby fought back from 12-0 and then 17-12 down to secure an important bonus point win on the road in the Celtic Challenge yesterday with a 22-17 victory over Welsh outfit Brython Thunder at Parc Y Scarlets.

The battling triumph in Llanelli means that Edinburgh have two wins from three in the tournament so far and they can look to build on this later in the month and heading into February.

Tries from second-row Shona Wakely and centre Ellie Tromans, plus one conversion from winger Amy Williams, had Thunder 12-0 up.

Then loosehead prop Panashe Muzambe and scrum-half Caity Mattinson scored tries along with a conversion from full-back Nicole Marlow to make it 12-12.

Williams’ five-pointer made it 17-12 at half-time, but Edinburgh put in a controlled second-half performance.

No 8 Freya Walker scored an unconverted try to make it 17-17 and then, when Tromans was yellow carded just before the hour mark, winger Cieron Bell went over for the bonus point fourth try for the visitors.

The Edinburgh University student has now scored three tries in three games and this was an important win.

Also yesterday, Clovers from Ireland scored a late converted try to defeat Gwalia Lightning from Wales 19-17. It all means that, as the tournament takes a break until January 27, Wolfhounds are top on 14 points, Gwalia and Edinburgh have 10, Clovers have nine, Thunder have one and Glasgow Warriors have 0.

Glasgow are on no points because of three losses from three and, after their 40-12 defeat to the Irish Wolfhounds at Scotstoun on Saturday, head coach Chris Laidlaw said: “There was a big momentum shift either side of half-time that made it really tricky for us.

“Heading into the break we had got a try and were attacking as well as we have all competition, but the Wolfhounds scored a third converted try.

“That was a blow, as was the seven-pointer just after the interval made it hard to come back.

“There have been lots of learnings and improvements made by individuals – now we have to learn to put all facets of our game together for 80 minutes going forward.”