RASO DAZZLE
Junior celebrates late selection with dramatic Gunners winner
EDINBURGH sealed a home Challenge Cup quarterfinal thanks to a dramatic last-gasp try from stand-in Junior Rasolea.
The Gunners were trailing with a minute left in a thrilling Murrayfield clash. But centre Rasolea, who came into the Gunners line-up just before kick-off when Chris Dean called off injured, grabbed the all-important touchdown.
Blair Kinghorn then held his nerve to clip over the decisive conversion that sank Stade.
Edinburgh coach Richard Cockerill said: “I have to be delighted with the result but it was far from perfect.
“The guys deserve credit for finding a way to win but it was a mixed performance.
“We can play a lot better and we handed Stade some easy points through soft tries.
“We could easily have lost it but we managed to come through and reaching the quarter-finals of any European competition is exciting. Now we go to Paris and that will be a whole new challenge.
“Winning here was great but we need to back it up over at their place. It’s all about seedings now.”
Gunners made a positive start, pressuring the away side into giving away penalties. And Sam Hidalgo-Clyne put them in front with a close-in kick.
Stade replied quickly with Jules Plisson levelling. And six minutes later the France Test playmaker found the target again after a controversial penalty verdict by English referee Tom Foley.
Hidalgo-Clyne goaled his second penalty from longer range before Stade went down to 14 men just before the break as Jonathan Danty was yellow carded for a combination of offside and obstruction.
Hidalgo-Clyne converted then added three more points in stoppage time after the French side were guilty of backchat and marched back 10 metres – taking the kick within the range of the scrum-half.
Plisson narrowed the gap with his next attempt just after the restart.
And there was a further blow for Edinburgh when Stade carved out a touchdown during their first real raid of the game.
Their patient phase play paid off with Sekou Macalou galloping through and Plisson converting. But the reply from the Gunners was immediate.
Stade made a hash of their lineout and Hamish Watson pounced on the loose ball to crash over from 30 metres.
Hidalgo-Clyne’s kick restored the home side’s lead – only to see Plisson thump over a leveller after another puzzling decision from ref Foley.
Even worse was to come when the Frenchmen were awarded a try through Waisea Nayacalevu when the grounding of the ball was far from clear. Plisson made it a seven-pointer to pile the pressure on Edinburgh.
Jaco van der Walt restored Gunners hopes with a brilliant score, deceiving the markers with a devastating dummy.
Van der Walt was narrowly wide with the conversion but made amends with a penalty.
In the frantic finale Craig Burden scored a third Stade try – goaled by Plisson. Then Rasolea was the late hero, winning a kick and chase to score the game-winning try.