McHaffie scores on home debut as Edinburgh down Stormers at Hive Stadium
Edinburgh secured a gritty United Rugby Championship victory over the Stormers at Hive Stadium on 2 October 2026, with 19-year-old Rory McHaffie finishing the match with the decisive try on his home debut. The result left Edinburgh with two wins from two to start the URC season.
Edinburgh arrived seeking to build on a superb bonus-point win away to Ulster the previous weekend and started the scoring when James Grayson slotted a long-range penalty. South Africa captain Siya Kolisi made his first appearance in a Stormers shirt in over five years, but the opening period produced little attacking action as dropped balls and the referee's whistle dominated play.
The first half saw Liam McConnell deny the visitors at lineout time by stealing three throws against the throw, while Magnus Bradbury had what looked like a try ruled out just before half-time after the referee judged he had made a double movement when touching down.
Early in the second half Stormers fly-half Yaqeen Ahmed kicked two penalties in three minutes to put the visitors in front, with a strong breeze cited in the match report as continuing to affect the quality of attacking play for both teams.
Stormers' lineout problems contributed to Edinburgh's opening try just before the hour: a loose throw was picked off at the tail by Jerry Blyth-Lafferty and, after a phase, the substitute hooker surged close to the line before replacement prop Paul Hill dived over.
Wandisile Simelane appeared to have reclaimed the lead for the Stormers only for replays to show Piers O'Connor had forced him into touch before he grounded the ball; shortly afterwards a dominant Stormers scrum close to the posts allowed Hacjivah Dayimani to peel off and score, with Ahmed adding the conversion.
Edinburgh replied by battering at the Stormers line and then swinging play wide to substitute Rory McHaffie, who gathered Grayson's pass off the deck and beat the cover defence to score on his home debut. In the final play the Stormers kicked a penalty to the corner, but McConnell once again disrupted the lineout and the ball returned to the Edinburgh side, who got it off the pitch to secure the win.
Edinburgh: O'Conor, Satala, Currie (co-capt), Higgins, Gwynn, Grayson, Patterson; Schoeman, Morris, O Blyth-Lafferty, Hunter-Hill, Young, McConnell, Douglas, Bradbury (co-capt). Replacements: J Blyth-Lafferty, Hepburn, Hill, McVie, Currie, McAlpine, Scott, McHaffie.
Stormers: Gelant, Senatla, R Nel (captain), Roche, Zas, Ahmed, Ungerer; Mchunu, Venter, Fouché, Norton, Schickerling, Kolisi, L Nel, Dayimani. Replacements: Paulo, Matongo, Sandi, Evans, Smith, Mlaba, Warner, Simelane.
Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt told BBC Scotland: "It's a great start for us. It's the total opposite to what we had last year. For these youngsters, I think we had 11 players 22 and under, getting one over those really good players that played for South Africa in the last month, I think it's great for us and it's going to build a lot of belief and sometimes that belief is more important than the league points."