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GUNNERS EDGED OUT
Gunners: 13 Connacht:16
Connacht's pack has developed a reputation for a formidable rolling maul in recent years. And it proved crucial in their narrow victory at Murrayfield tonight. Not so much throughout the game, when the men from the west of Ireland built a13 point lead through a fine opportunist try by Slemen, and the boot of the legendary Eric Elwood; but it enabled them to set up the maestro's winning penalty as the match entered injury time, and then close out the game for a hard-fought victory that does their Heineken qualification hopes for next season a great deal of good.
But enough of this being magnanimous in defeat nonsense. More importantly, this was a desperately disappointing result for the Gunners. They did not display the same hunger to win as their visitors did, and it took too long for them to settle into their usual fluent style. The losing bonus point takes them to level with Glasgow, but they really should have been looking to overtake their domestic rivals with a victory tonight.
The game started well, with both sides looking to move the ball in the sub-zero temperatures, and Webster and Blair combining well several phases after the opening kick off to threaten the Connacht line. But it was Elwood who struck first, his penalty on 11 minutes giving the Irishmen an early lead.
With the Gunners' scrummage under pressure, Edinburgh were giving Connacht the odd half-chance, but the home defence was fairly comfortable in repelling boarders. Then the returning Ben MacDougall, who had an impressive spell tonight, running a good angle, cut through the Connacht defence on 25 minutes. But his offload five yards out went to a Connacht hand, and the danger was cleared.
The Gunners were beginning to lift the tempo at this stage. But with the home side threatening again, a good Connacht breakout saw Slemen pounce on a kick into the in-goal area for the converted try that gave them a useful ten point lead.
The final ten minutes of the half saw the Gunners put Connacht under all sorts of pressure, but still the breakthrough didn't come. On 38 minutes, an excellent move off the back of a five metre scrum saw a deft inside pass from Strokosch to MacDougall over for the touchdown. But so cunning was the move that referee Watkins was looking towards the wing at the time. By the time he had worked out where the play was, a mountain of bodies had descended, and he blew for a scrum. Disappointingly, off a Connacht offence at a subsequent attacking scrum five, the referee called Blair back in order to lecture a defending player, with the speedy half having taken a quick tap and finding himself in space just inches from the line, with a try virtually certain.
Early in the second half, Kellock was carded for a fairly innocuous offence at the breakdown, Elwood goaling for a 13 point lead. But the Gunners came right back with a superb Smith try in the right corner. In a lengthy spell of play, during which the home team explored most parts of the Murrayfield pitch, and frustrated observers by taking the ball standing still, throwing wild passes to no-one in particular and generally diverging spectacularly from the textbooks, somehow their probing found a gap big enough for Biggers to streak through for his first touchdown of the season. Godman landed an excellent conversion, and short-handed Edinburgh were right back in the game.
Immediately afterwards, a clever Blackadder flick off a seven man scrum saw Blair streak down the blindside, only to be crowded out by the cover. Then a lovely Laney chip and gather coming out of defence put Webster away in space. The winger made ground, then offloaded to Joiner, who cut back into the 22 and was tackled very high by Lacey. It was perhaps a soft yellow card for the flanker, but the earlier carding of Kellock meant that the referee had little choice if he was to be consistent. Godman's penalty cut the lead to three.
The Gunners were still playing a fairly loose game, but the headless chickens of the first half had gone, and there was far more assurance and menace about their play. A Laney penalty going into the last ten minutes levelled the scores, and if anyone was going to win this game, it surely had to be expansive Edinburgh.
But then came the Connacht maul, the Elwood boot, and the visiting victory.
MAN OF THE MATCH:
NATHAN HINES, in combative form this evening.
SCORERS:
EDINBURGH: Smith 1T, Godman 1P 1C, Laney 1P
CONNACHT: Elwood 3P 1C, Slemen 1T
TEAMS:
EDINBURGH RUGBY:
Laney, Webster, Di Rollo, MacDougall, Joiner, Godman, Blair, Jacobsen, Hall, Smith, Hines, Kellock, Strokosch, Cross, Blackadder. Replacements: Kelly, Dickinson, Pringle, Callam, Lawson, Boston, Pyke.
CONNACHT: Mostyn, McPhillips, Yapp, McHugh, Slemen, Elwood, Keane, McFarland, Fogerty, Knoop, Short, Farley, Swift, Lacey,O'Sullivan. Replacements: Jackman, Clarke, Buckley, Muldoon, O'Connor, Walls, Robinson.
Referee: Watkins (WRU)
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