Gloucester Rugby were beaten 26-24 away at Edinburgh Rugby at the Hive Stadium on Friday night in the third pool stage game of the 2025/26 Investec Champions Cup

23:45, 09 Jan 2026Updated 23:53, 09 Jan 2026

Charlie Atkinson of Gloucester Rugby celebrates (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)(Image: )

The result might have been the same, but George Skivington’s decision to hand Charlie Atkinson the reins at fly-half almost paid off on Friday night as a much-improved Gloucester were narrowly beaten 26-24 away at Edinburgh Rugby in the Champions Cup.

With headline summer signing Ross Byrne watching from the bench, the away side had their hearts broken as Edinburgh staged a second-half comeback to consign the visitors to a fifth straight defeat in all competitions, but there were glimpses of the Cherry and Whites’ dangerous attacking rugby of last season, despite a number of high-profile players like Tomos Williams being sidelined with injuries.

Speaking post-match, full-back George Barton said: “After the last few weeks, we really wanted to put in a good Gloucester performance. We didn’t get over the line, and that is something for us to learn from, but the bounce back from last week was amazing.

“The boys showed character when we were down to 14, we clawed our way back to get within two points. Going forward, this is good for us. I know it seems dark at the moment but we feel like we are going towards the light at the end of the tunnel and it is promising.”

It took just 90 seconds for the visitors to take the lead, with the two Atkinsons the architects. Charlie provided a short pass to send skipper Seb Atkinson away on the outside arc, and the centre calmly released Josh Hathaway to scortch down the tramlines and show too much pace to beat Scotland’s all-time leading try scorer Duhan van der Merwe in a foot race to touch down. The score sparked wild celebrations from the underdogs from the West Country.

George Barton’s penalty a little over 10 minutes later gave Gloucester an eight-point advantage.

Edinburgh responded with their first try in the 17th minute courtesy of former Gloucester scrum half Ben Vellacott. The Scottish international spotted an under-populated blindside to exploit and then worked an out-to-in passing move to cut through the remaining Cherry and White defenders, just surviving a last-ditch tackle from Charlie Atkinson, who will be disappointed to have let Vellacott escape his grip. The try cut the deficit to three points, but was quickly cancelled out by Barton’s second penalty of the half.

Gloucester capped off a brilliant half with their second try of the match as Charlie Atkinson chased a kick from Mikey Austin and managed to get it down over the whitewash before it bounced out of play, crashing into the advertising hoardings as a reward for his commitment to score.

Edinburgh got themselves back in the game through Ewan Ashman, as the Scottish international hooker, with a team mate on his hip, bounced out of a tackle from Ciaran Knight, to power over from close range. But Barton’s third penalty took Gloucester’s advantage to nine.

With errors creeping into Gloucester’s game, Edinburgh’s comeback grew in momentum, with a wonderful offload from lock Glen Young releasing flanker Liam McConnell to crash over in under the posts to cut the deficit to two with the game entering the final quarter.

In the end, the hosts took the lead for the first time in the contest in the 68th minute through a penalty try as Charlie Atkinson illegally dragged down a motoring dynamic maul from a lineout and was handed a yellow card.

With five minutes remaining, and with the lineout struggling again with the Cherry and Whites missing four hookers due to injuries, Barton added a fourth penalty from 40m out and made it a two-point game, but an opportunity to manufacture a chance for a winning score never materialised.

Gloucester now host French heavyweights Toulon at Kingsholm on Saturday in the final pool stage game with a place in the last 16 knockout round of the Champions Cup, or a spot in the Challenge Cup, likely up for grabs thanks to the losing bonus point from the club’s trip to Scotland.

Edinburgh Rugby: 15. Wes Goosen, 14. Darcy Graham, 13. Matt Currie, 12. James Lang, 11. Duhan van der Merwe, 10. Ross Thompson, 9. Ben Vellacott, 1. James Whitcombe, 2. Harri Morris, 3. Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, 4. Callum Hunter-Hill, 5. Glen Young, 6. Liam McConnell, 7. Freddy Douglas, 8. Magnus Bradbury (c)

Replacements: 16. Ewan Ashman, 17. Pierre Schoeman, 18. Paul Hill, 19. Euan McVie, 20. Tom Dodd, 21. Ben Muncaster, 22. Charlie Shiel, 23. Piers O’Conor

Gloucester Rugby: 15. George Barton, 14. Jack Cotgreave, 13. Will Butler, 12. Seb Atkinson (c), 11. Josh Hathaway, 10. Charlie Atkinson, 9. Mike Austin, 1. Val Rapava Ruskin, 2. Will Crane, 3. Nepo Laulala, 4. Freddie Thomas, 5. Matias Alemanno, 6. Deian Gwynne, 7. Lewis Ludlow, 8. Jack Clement

Replacements: 16. George Knowles, 17. Ciaran Knight, 18. Afolabi Fasogbon, 19. Cam Jordan, 20. James Venter, 21. Rhys Price, 22. Ross Byrne, 23. Jake Morris