Owsley stars in 10-try thriller

• 25 January 2022

Freddie Owsley starred on debut as Edinburgh routed CA Brive in a scintillating ten-try display at DAM Health Stadium.

Edinburgh bounced back from their defeat against London Irish in spectacular style, mauling their Top 14 visitors in a relentless performance, with debutant Freddie Owsley catching the eye with a spectacular solo score to cap an impressive first outing for the capital club.

Brive took an early lead through the boot of Laranjeira, but it didn’t take long for Edinburgh to take the game by the scruff of the neck, with Glen Young proving an unlikely source of tries. The lock from Jedburgh scored a quickfire brace, first powering over from close range before galloping from 50 metres out having charged down an attempted clearing kick.

Young’s second score prompted a flurry of tries, with the home side picking up three scores in nine minutes. Jamie Ritchie crossed first, finishing off a flowing attacking move. Schoeman broke through the defence, giving Kinghorn and Shiel the space to combine and get Edinburgh to the line, before the imperious Kunavula applied a piece of Fijian magic to offload and give Ritchie the simple task of crossing the line.

Darcy Graham marked his return from injury with an acrobatic finish in the corner to secure the bonus point, but it was his back-three colleague who stole the show. Owsley displayed every inch of his sprinting prowess to score a try of the season contender, chasing after his own kicks to score a stunner from inside the Edinburgh 22.

Owsley scored his second of the night quickly after the restart, latching onto another Kunavula offload to thunder into the corner.

Brive managed to put together a period of pressure to keep the hosts quiet, but it didn’t last long; Owsley turned provider, setting Ben Muncaster up to score his first try for the club. The backrower channelled his inner winger, resisting defensive pressure to finish well out wide.

Hamish Watson brought up the 50, dotting down after strong carrying from Cammy Hutchison gave Savala the space to float a pass out to the flanker. Mark Bennett crossed shortly after, capping a brilliant week for the centre, having just been recalled into the Scotland squad for the Guinness Six Nations.

Henry Pyrgos added the gloss on the buzzer, quickly tapping a penalty to dart over and push the score to 66-3.