This week, Exeter made the long journey up to face Edinburgh in our 4th round BUCS National League Clash. Edinburgh are always tough opponents, and this game would be no exception.

Conditions, as they always are at Peffermill, were tricky with strong winds and constant threat of rain; however, this didn’t stop the players from putting on an entertaining fixture.

Exeter started the game off well with an early try in the opening ten minutes. Edinburgh gave away a scrum penalty on their own 22’, allowing Exeter to put it to the corner. The initial driving maul was brought down illegally by the Scottish side, giving Exeter another penalty advantage. Yet again, they went to the corner, and this time, the maul was too dominant as Anna Woodman crashed over at the tail.

Edinburgh almost responded immediately as they set up camp deep in the Exeter 22’; however, Exeter managed to relieve the pressure thanks to their defensive line speed, which was too much for the Edinburgh attacker, who knocked the ball on. The clearance kick from Exeter gave Edinburgh the lineout; however, poor hands from the Edinburgh back line allowed Lottie Dadds to kick through the loose ball and chase it down. She won the turnover herself and kicked it to the corner.

Exeter's lineout throw wasn’t straight, and Edinburgh had a resulting scrum but knocked it on and was accidentally offside, giving Exeter a penalty ten metres out. Quick thinking from the forwards got them front foot ball on the tap-and-go, and after a couple of phases, Orchard crashed over for the try.

Despite Exeter’s fast start, Edinburgh are a side always up for a challenge and finally got themselves on the board almost immediately after. They took a quick tap from a free kick, and the second row did well to bump off a couple of tackles and get the offload away inside to the trailing scrum-half, who dove under the posts.

The first half was being played at a breakneck speed, and Exeter were keen to make up for their mistake. Edinburgh knocked the ball on at the restart, meaning Exeter had possession inside the opposition's red zone. From here, it was consistent attacking pressure from Exeter and despite Edinburgh holding strong for a while, it was the backs who got the plaudits as the ball came down the short side and Birkett dove over to finish it off in the corner.

The next try was even better though, and who else but electric winger Connie Clarke to score it! The Edinburgh attack was getting no go forward at all, so the fly-half decided to put a bomb up in the air from the halfway line. The kick was poor and fell right into the hands of Clarke just on her own 22’. From there, she spotted a gap on the outside of the realigning Edinburgh defence and outpaced every covering defender to run it in all the way for her 5th try in the BUCS National League.

There was to be one more try before the half-time whistle for the Devon side. Dadds put in a clever chip behind the Edinburgh defence, putting them under pressure to exit out of their 22’. The pressure was too much as Exeter won a turnover penalty right on the 22’ metre line. It was second-row Kate Smith who caught the Edinburgh defence unaware and off-guard as they failed to track back ten metres, and she went herself bumping off the last defender to get the score.

HALF TIME SCORE: EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY 7-29 EXETER UNIVERSITY

In typical Exeter fashion this season, we scored another try early on in the second half. Edinburgh had the ball on their own five-metre line and passed it back for the fly-half to exit; however, the excellent defensive pressure of Exeter meant the fly-half was tackled in their own deadball area, giving Exeter the dangerous scrum. The scrum gave a good platform, and Skeates managed to crash over.

Exeter now had a significant lead however, Edinburgh did not want to lose at home without a fight and came back firing. Their next try was a nicely worked scrum set play from the middle of the park. The backs worked it well through the hands, and it was pure pace as the winger finished it off in the corner.

Their next try was fairly similar in nature just shortly after. A forward pass gave them a scrum inside their own half and once again hands out wide to the winger, opened up space, and they managed to beat the covering tackles to get the score.

Edinburgh clearly had momentum and were in full swing with consistent pressure inside the Exeter half. Things got even worse after a series of team offences for offside penalties. Exeter were shown a yellow card and went down to 14 players. With the extra player advantage, it was almost inevitable Edinburgh would get another score. They were patient and consistent with their tight carries, and then a couple of simple hands allowed them to get the score.

This Exeter side however never back down from a challenge and showed it. The Edinburgh scrum-half made a half-line break and tried to get the offload away; however, it fell to an Exeter player. Exeter pounced on the counter-attacking opportunity, spreading the ball wide for Eva Sterritt to run it in for the try.

With time almost up, Edinburgh would get one more score right before the final whistle was blown however, Exeter had already secured victory.

FULL-TIME SCORE: EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY 29-41 EXETER UNIVERSITY

After a long journey, Exeter managed to come away with the important bonus point victory. Exeter now have a three-week break from the BUCS National League before they go away again to face Cardiff Met.