Cardiff v EDI Sun 30th 1500

[liveinhope]

What a terrific 2nd half performance-a really good win and four important points.Dean,Crosbie,Mata,Venter,Goosen all superb.
If Crosbie has any gas left must be in the frame for the Fiji game (and NZ).

[The Feral Goat]

What a terrific 2nd half performance-a really good win and four important points.Dean,Crosbie,Mata,Venter,Goosen all superb.
If Crosbie has any gas left must be in the frame for the Fiji game (and NZ).

Thought Harrison was superb as well and muncaster very good.

Note on Crosbie his leadership/decision making was spot on as captain today when to take 3 when to go corner.

Very good win

[Tichtheid]

I wasn't able to watch the second half, but I'll catch up on the recording.

That is a terrific result on the road.

[liveinhope]

Yes I forgot to name check Patrick Harrison-our fourth choice hooker thrown on early due to injury but what a performance,brilliant little sidestepping running gaining huge yards,held up the scrum and his throwing in contributed to the best lineout performance of the season for Edinburgh.

[toocoldhere]

Yes I forgot to name check Patrick Harrison-our fourth choice hooker thrown on early due to injury but what a performance,brilliant little sidestepping running gaining huge yards,held up the scrum and his throwing in contributed to the best lineout performance of the season for Edinburgh.

He's not going to be fourth choice for long. I was worried when he went on loan to the Not Nots, that he wouldn't come back, so really glad to see him playing and being so good

[doedin]

That's the sort of game we would have lost a season or two ago. I thought Sykes made a big difference to the pack when he came on, he does a lot of the hard dirty work in the pack and he helped shore us up. For a young guy Harrison was excellent when he came on, he has real pace around the park and his arrows are spot on. Difficult to single out anyone today, they all played well but Dean made a couple of tries for us and was brilliant at marshalling the defence. I'm struggling to think when Cardiff did anything with the ball in hand other than the rolling maul and pick and goes? We were the better team for long periods in the game, a well deserved win.

[Martin Bell]

Fully agree. Very pleased with that. If anything, as much for the way that coaches and the team responded and adjusted to Cardiff's play in the second quarter as anything else. Really impressed by Harrison as well as the more usual suspects.

Quick thoughts: http://www.edinburghgunners.org.uk/matchday/reports

[dolf_lundgren]

Agree with all that has been said, Dean and Harrison the standouts, Angus Williams shored up the scrum when he came on, I think he is going to develop further into a very solid option, at 28 he is just maturing as a prop.

Goosen really made an impact both in attack and defence, if we didn’t have Darcy and Duhan we would be really excited about him playing, our back 3 options are as good as anyone in the league now I think.

Final note of credit, I though that was the best game Shiel has had for Edinburgh. No fireworks but his control and excision making, particularly with Savala having his rest. I’ve been a bit critical of him for doing the flash stuff b it struggling to really control a game. He certainly did that tonight and looked very mature.

Other last point, how is Chris Dean not had a cap or I’m the Scotland Squad. No disrespect to the other 12s who have been capped and in squads recently but he is so consistent and has a great skill set, crash, handling, kicking and defending. He is it all consistently to a high standard.

[Trophyhunter]

Agree on continuous surprise at Dean not being capped on the back of his performances going back to early this year. He just gets better week on week showing class in performance and edge in attitude for Edinburgh . His leadership too was obvious . Reflecting on how little ball our key strikers received on Saturday through the Scotland midfield you can only wonder at what a Dean/ Harris or Hutchinson would create all are top class smart distributors who can also create front foot metres in carry. I don’t get the selection of McDowall over Dean for the squad place or Tupilotu at12 . The latter to me is a 13 or bench option.

Sykes in 2nd half had a real impact and credit to coaching team for early timing on Sub. Harrison is just a wonderful spirited young player who has clearly been practicing that sidestep with WP Nel!

[robdinsdale]

Other last point, how is Chris Dean not had a cap or I’m the Scotland Squad. No disrespect to the other 12s who have been capped and in squads recently but he is so consistent and has a great skill set, crash, handling, kicking and defending. He is it all consistently to a high standard.

On current form, you would say he should be there. He has really brought his game on in the Blair era, I've always had time for him but previously you could probably point to his distribution/decision-making as a weakness that would rule him out of international contention, whereas now he seems a more complete player. It feels like with Toony though once a decision is made about a player, that's it.