Rasolea floors the French in a thriller
Late try seals last-eight spot
JUNIOR RASOLEA was the unlikely hero last night as his late try secured Edinburgh’s place in the knockout stages of the European Challenge Cup.
Down by six points with four minutes left in an epic encounter which saw the lead constantly change hands, a Nathan Fowles chip kick was met by the centre to touch down.
Blair Kinghorn’s conversion gave his team a precious one-point lead over Stade Francais, which they held until the end.
Rasolea wasn’t even supposed to have started and was only called in after Chris Dean pulled up in the warm-up with an injury.
This nail-biting triumph was throughly deserved by Richard Cockerill’s side, with victory not only taking them through to the knockout stages but securing them a home quarter-final.
Hamish Watson, who scored a superb solo try, and full-back Kinghorn were the other heroes on a great night for the club.
Edinburgh made the brighter start, with Sam Hidalgo-Clyne putting over a second-minute penalty. They had the French outfit on the rack early on, with referee Tom Foley warning the visitors that the next player to stray offside would be shown a yellow card.
They managed to hold their discipline and, in their first attack, Jules Plisson brought his side level with a long-range penalty before putting them in front with another after 15 minutes.
Their lead only lasted for four minutes, however, as Hidalgo-Clyne levelled with a penalty of his own from distance.
Kinghorn showed fantastic acceleration to split open the Stade Francais defence and only a last-ditch tackle from Tony Ensor stopped him from scoring in the corner.
The referee finally lost patience with the French side’s constant straying into offside and sent centre Jonathan Danty to the sinbin before Hidalgo-Clyne put over the resultant penalty with ease.
Edinburgh were making some fine breaks but their final pass was going astray much too often.
Home centre Mark Bennett was particularly frustrated when he found good space but was ignored by Rasolea.
A fine break by Hidalgo-Clyne caught the Stade defence offside once again near their own posts and he put over a penalty with the final kick of the half.
A six-point advantage was the very least Edinburgh deserved at the break after they had dominated possession, with Stade Francais not once threatening their try line.
The French outfit made the better start to the second half and were rewarded with a Plisson penalty that cut the deficit to just three points.
And they went further ahead after a sustained period of pressure that led to No 8 Sekou Macalou going over for the first try of the evening in 46 minutes. Plisson put over the extras to send his team ahead.
Against the run of play, Edinburgh regained the lead thanks to a superb individual try from Watson two minutes later.
There looked to be no danger when he picked up the ball 40 metres out before setting off on a lung-busting run to the line.
In a straight foot race he outstripped the opposition defence to score. With Hidalgo-Clyne putting over the conversion, Edinburgh were back in front.
With the game finally balanced, tempers began to fray to the extent that a mass brawl broke out, spilling off the park and on to the track.
The referee handled the incident well, calling both captains together to tell them to calm their players down.
Stade were awarded a penalty following the fracas and Plisson put
over from the touchline to draw the scores level.
With an hour on the clock, the visitors took the lead with a break straight up the middle of the park that caught Edinburgh on the hop.
Julien Arias made the running before Waisea Nayacalevu scored under the posts. Plisson’s conversion meant the lead had changed hands again.
South African fly-half Jaco van der Walt gave Edinburgh some muchneeded momentum with the home side’s second try four minutes later.
Although he didn’t run in from as far out as Watson, he still managed to outsprint the opposition defence to score. His missed conversion meant Edinburgh were still two points behind, however.
With 11 minutes left, Van der Walt made up for that miss with a vital penalty. Although it was in front of the posts, it was around 40 metres out but he held his nerve to give his side a slender one-point lead.
Within seconds of the re-start, Stade Francais were back ahead. Giorgi Melikidze went over in the corner after poor Edinburgh tackling.
A Plisson conversion made it a six-point lead for the visitors.
Just when it looked like the French had sucked the life out of Cockerill’s men, however, Rasolea made his dramatic intervention.