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EDINBURGH START '07 WITH LOW KEY WIN
Edinburgh: 24 (9) Llanelli: 14 (9)
Mystery surrounds the disappearance of dinosaurs from the earth, many millions of years ago. Was there a great flood, or a massive meteorite strike? Did Raquel Welch have something to do with it? Nobody knows for sure. Nobody, that is, except the only remaining eyewitness, veteran stand-off Duncan "Hodgey" Hodge.
In a late change to the home starting lineup tonight, the old boy stood in for Phil Godman and staggered through a full 80 minutes, turning in a fine performance that earned him a well deserved Magnersleague Man of the Match award. He controlled the game masterfully, keeping play in Llanelli's half when it mattered, and knocked over nine points in the final quarter that put the game out of the Scarlets' reach.
This was a quietly effective performance from Edinburgh, and was enough to take them into fourth position in the league, six points behind leaders Ulster and only three off second placed Leinster. Although not completely watertight, the scrummage and lineout were steadier than they have been of late, and the Embra defence was rock solid against an admittedly fairly blunt visiting attack. Dougie Hall, The Dingwall Dynamo, at last located his jumpers, and was rewarded both with a solid lineout performance by Scott Murray and the match sponsors' Man of the Match award.
Meanwhile, the Scarlets, missing a number of key personnel, didn't do much of note. Most visiting entertainment came from scrum half Stuart-Smith's Peter Stringer impersonations - arms constantly outstretched, imploring the referee to ping the opposition for an imaginary offence - and his revolutionary approach to the scrum put in, bypassing his front five altogether by dropping the ball at the feet of his flanker much of the time. Quite how they managed to create the game's only try, notched by Daniel with four minutes left on the clock, is something of a mystery.
Indeed, even two of Stephen Jones' three penalties came as a direct result of yet more unforced home errors at restarts; the third followed a surreal decision by one of the touch judges to award a Llanelli lineout allegedly conceded by a comfortably in-play Matt Mustchin.
And the game itself did not so much start with a bang as subside into life, accompanied by some bizarre - and slightly spooky - background noise. Murrayfield microphone maestro, Ian Turner, had difficulty with the tannoy for some time, and interference, in the form of an irritating high-pitched whine that sounded a bit like Jonathan Davies commentating for BBC Wales, could just about be discerned for much of the opening quarter. During that time, Paterson and Stephen Jones exchanged penalties.
A further couple of penalties for the pair left the half-time score at 9-9, with both sides struggling to impose themselves in a game without any discernible pattern.
Embra started the second period with more purpose, though, and good pressure from the opening kick off saw them earn a rather fortunate penalty when Hugo was isolated on the visiting 22. Paterson made no mistake. Nor did he five minutes later, when a fine series of Edinburgh phases again took them deep into the Llanelli red zone, with Cairns and Dickinson making good inroads into the defence. The points took him over the century for the season. 15-9 Edinburgh.
After replacement Gavin Thomas had punched a prone Di Rollo in the face with impunity two metres in front of the other touch judge, who saw no evil, another Llanelli ruck offence saw Hodge take over the kicking duties from the skipper, who had picked up a knock. The result was the same, though, and Edinburgh had opened up a handy nine point lead. Shortly afterwards, Garan Evans tackled Blair round the throat as the Edinburgh scrum half was jumping for a high ball. On a charitable view, he may have been going for the ball himself, but the tackle was a nasty one, and Blair retired hurt as a direct result.
With ten minutes left on the clock, Hodge continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over with a penalty for another Llanelli offside with Edinburgh once more pressing in the enemy 22. But the usual home guddle at the succeeding restart gave Llanelli a useful scoring opportunity. Although Edinburgh seemed to have cleared the danger, they lost the ball at the breakdown for Daniel to surge away for a try in the corner, Jones missing the difficult conversion. Would the Scarlets come away with a bonus point?
Happily, it was not to be, as Edinburgh marched down the field to set up Hodge for the perfectly struck dropped goal that regained a ten point lead, 24-14. All that remained was for the capital side to soak up the Llanelli pressure, which they did comfortably.
Special mention must go to Lucio "Big Hit" Lopez Fleming, the half pint-sized Pampas Predator. Reared on a diet consisting entirely of Argentinian beef from the age of two weeks, the tiny winger, on for the injured Paterson, set about his defensive chores with brutal intent. He was unlucky to be called for a "knock on" when stealing ball well at a Llanelli breakdown. And he used his full 5'5'' in height to great effect in barging the robustly effective Alix Popham, a gentleman twice his weight, into touch at a time when the Scarlets were looking threatening. The man is a defensive colossus. It'll be interesting to see what he can do in attack.
SCORERS;
Edinburgh: Paterson 5P, Hodge 2P 1DG
Llanelli: Jones 2P, Daniel 1T
TEAMS:
Edinburgh: Hugo, Paterson, Di Rollo, Dey, Cairns, Hodge, Blair, Jacobsen, Hall, Dickinson, Mustchin, Murray, Taylor, MacDonald, Callam. Replacements: Lawrie, Cross, Bentley, Strokosch, Senio, McCall, Lopez Fleming.
Scarlets: Evans; James, Watkins, Evans, Daniel; S Jones, Stuart-Smith; Manu, Owens, Davies, Jones, MacLeod, Easterby (capt), Bater, Popham. Replacements: Dunlea, Gravelle, Reed, Thomas, Davies, Thomas, Stoddart.
Referee: Lewis (Ireland)
Martin Bell
