Edinburgh’s four in a row
EDINBURGH made it four wins from four in the Guinness PRO12 last night after they edged past Ulster at BT Murrayfield. It was a tight encounter right up until the last minute, Ulster really pounding Edinburgh’s line looking for the winning converted try, but Alan Solomons team are made of stern stuff. With Rory Sutherland joining the Scotland squad, Allan Dell started at prop for the hosts, but only lasted 11 minutes before going off with a head knock. By that stage his side had a 3-0 lead thanks to a penalty by full-back Greig Tonks. Both sides struggled to get out of first gear in attack during the first 40 minutes, but Edinburgh did manage to build up a 6-3 lead. Tonks kicked over another penalty on 18 minutes before Ulster got themselves on the scoreboard in the 24th minute through the boot of stand-off Peter Nelson. Edinburgh’s best chance of the half came when they nearly profited from an attacking kick just before the 30 minute mark. Stand-off Phil Burleigh’s effort nearly set up winger Damien Hoyland for the try. Ulster started the second half well, winning the ball back five metres from the Edinburgh line. From there, they spread the ball wide to the other wing and, after a couple of phases, back-row Sean Reidy went over for the score with Nelson converting. Edinburgh were back in front 10 minutes later, Nasi Manu’s run down the left and nice inside pass seeing fellow back-row Hamish Watson over for the converted score. The lead for the home side was further extended to 16-10 in the 65th minute when Tonks kicked over his third penalty of the evening. In the 72nd minute, Tonks missed a tricky penalty which nearly proved costly as Ulster piled on the pressure in the closing stages, but Edinburgh held on to much delight.