Edinburgh star boosts Scotland claim in ‘world-class’ battle with Siya Kolisi

Edinburgh flanker Liam McConnell strengthened his claims for a place in the Scotland squad to take on New Zealand in the Nations Championship next month with a “world-class” display of lineout destruction against the Stormers on Friday.

The 22-year-old, who enjoyed a barnstorming Test debut against the USA last November in a breakthrough season at club level, provided further evidence of his burgeoning talent to help the capital side continue their winning start to the new URC season.

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend and forwards coach John Dalziel were both at Hive Stadium to see McConnell play a leading role as Edinburgh followed up a sparkling opening win at Ulster with a scrappy but vital 17-13 victory to maintain momentum.

Stormers, despite playing into a stiff wind and trailing 3-0, looked poised to take control of the game in the second quarter after forcing a series of penalties from the hosts.

But between the 25th and the 40th minute, the Cape Town outfit lost seven out of their eight lineouts. Impressive lock Glen Young stole the first one before McConnell took over as destroyer-in-chief, claiming three of the Stormers’ throws.

Fixture

Nations Championship

Scotland

06:10

7 Nov 26

New Zealand

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Such was the pressure on Stormers hooker Vernon Paulo, an early replacement for Ntuthuko Mchunu, that he was pinged for not throwing straight on two further occasions, while the visitors were also penalised for men leaving the lineout too early in their desperation to crank up their driving maul.

“The Stormers posed a massive set-piece threat and with the pack they have, they tend to dominate opposition,” said Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt. “We knew we had to try and disrupt them at source and if we were able to contain that and put phases of play together, we would have them in trouble.

“Liam McConnell contesting the lineout was world-class and we prepared really well for that during the week. With [Edinburgh forwards coach] Steve Lawrie and obviously Liam, who was our main contributor, we destroyed their set-piece. They couldn’t get going or get momentum from that.

“They even went for poles [kick at goal] at one stage in the game so we really got under their skin. Obviously at the end too it also got us over the line, disrupting that last lineout and winning the scrap on the floor.”

The malfunctioning Stormers lineout also led to Edinburgh’s first try after 57 minutes. With McConnell at the front, and Young in the middle, both challenging the throw, Paulo missed his jumpers again and the over-throw was seized on by Jerry Blyth-Lafferty.

Edinburgh’s replacement hooker fired a pin-point long pass to James Grayson in midfield and from the ensuing ruck, Blyth-Lafferty barged his way through two Stormers guards and then rounded another defender on a blistering break before offloading to McConnell.

The marauding back-row was stopped short, but prop Paul Hill’s close-range finish put Edinburgh 10-6 up, with a yellow card for Stormers wing Seabelo Senatla also giving them a man advantage.

That was swiftly snuffed out when Edinburgh flanker Freddy Douglas was sin-binned for stretching referee Eoghan Cross’s patience with his third breakdown offence.

Despite their lineout woes, the Stormers’ pack flexed their muscles at scrum-time, with one try for Wandisile Simelane ruled out for a foot in touch before another dominant Stormers scrum saw No.8 Hacjivah Dayimani stretch over to regain the lead.

“We were up against it with the yellow card and giving them too many penalties and it felt like we were starting to lose all the small battles and scraps,” noted McConnell.

“It was just a case of ‘win the next moment’ and try to change the momentum. We found a way to change that quicker than last week and then got back on the front foot again.”

Edinburgh finally managed to string some attacking phases together with nine minutes left, James Grayson firing out a long cut-out pass that bounced twice before reaching 19-year-old replacement wing Rory McCaffie, who marked his home debut by rounding Senatla to score in the left corner.

Grayson’s superb touchline conversion made it a four-point game, giving Edinburgh the cushion to keep challenging Stormers’ lineout in the last knockings. The visitors sent a final penalty to touch in a bid for a winning score, but Edinburgh again sent up their disruptors, Young pouncing on a loose ball to seal victory.

It meant Edinburgh have won their first two league games for the first time since 2023. Next up is a trip to face Zebre in Parma, where they lost last season and could only manage a draw the season before.

“We are finding ways to win games which we weren’t doing before,” said McConnell, who also weighed in with 11 carries and 11 tackles in an eye-catching display.

“There are some things the coaches can fix but it’s the same with the players, we had to look at ourselves over the summer and work out what we could do to try to win these closer games.”

If McConnell maintains his current form, there is every chance he will mixing it with the likes of Matt Fagerson, Josh Bayliss and Jamie Ritchie for a place in the Scotland side to face the All Blacks, Australia and Japan at Murrayfield next month.

An untimely injury kept him out of this year’s Six Nations, but he did win his second cap off the bench against Fiji in July, with Fagerson starting in the No.6 jersey against Argentina and South Africa and Bayliss against Fiji.

“I obviously would have liked to play the biggest games, but I’d only played one [Test] at that time, so I probably wasn’t really expecting to get picked against the Springboks,” McConnell said this week.

“The World Cup would definitely be a goal but I think to be part of that, I’d probably have to play some more of the high-pressure Scotland games first. I doubt you’d maybe go to a World Cup if you didn’t play a single Six Nations match, or against a tier one country.

“There is a lot of competition in the back row especially, so the better we play for our club, the better chance it gives us of playing in these bigger games for Scotland. There is no time to show what you can do once you’re in camp so it is all about what you can do here for your club. You have to play well for these first four or five games. It might still not get you selected for the All Blacks, but it’s all you can really.”