We welcomed North Wales Crusaders to the Pleasance on Sunday 12th May and in doing so they became the first non-Scottish opponent to visit the Giants and it would also mark the first ever meeting between the two clubs on an historic day.
Two games were on the schedule with the first teams from each club going head-to-head in the 12.40 kick off and it was the Giants who came out of the blocks early racing into an 8-0 lead in the first 10 minutes through tries from Calum Davidson.
The ever-present Sarah Devlin was on hand on numerous occasions to negate the kick pressure from the Crusaders, getting the Giants on the front foot with some excellent kick returns.
North Wales Crusaders became the first non-Scottish team to visit the Edinburgh Giants.
The experience of North Wales meant they didn’t panic, and their first purple patch came from minutes 10 to 20 where they got themselves back into the game through well worked tries with two for Stephen Halsey and Jess Booth, Halsey adding the extras on each occasion. Davidson crossed for the Giants for his third of the day completing a first half hat-trick.
A kick chase in the 28th minute led to a collision in the in-goal area and the resulting sin binning of Giants number 1 Calum Davidson. Crusaders were able to capitalise on the extra player and ran in tries from Halsey, Jones and Martin Turner taking the score to 36-18 at the break.
Crusaders got the game under way in the 2nd half with the Giants back up to the full complement of 5 knew they were chasing the game, which showed at times with some unforced errors.
The Giants crossed with tries from Cadyn Thomson, John Willans to start to close the gap but a spirited Crusaders team didn’t back down and Wyatt Jones who was excellent throughout dotted down their 2nd try of the day. Calum Davidson and Connor Blackmore's link up play had gone up a level alongside great work from David Hill and Cassandra Cooper to build the platform. Davidson would go on to score a further 3 tries taking his haul for the afternoon to 6 with Willans adding the extras taking his total to 5 conversions for the day.
It was the experience of Welsh international Stephen Halsey and his game management that would see the Crusaders take the spoils first setting up Matthew Turner before crossing himself and then putting the game to bed in the last 90 seconds with a drop goal that would prove to the be the last points of the day.
A great first battle between the teams finishing 42-49 to North Wales.
Player of the Match for the Edinburgh Giants was awarded to Calum Davidson.
The 2nd game of the day would see a development game with 4 players playing their first ever game of Wheelchair Rugby League for the Giants and was played with great sportsmanship and in the right spirit.
A huge thank-you and credit to North Wales Crusaders who played their part in creating a great day of Wheelchair Rugby League.
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