Hodge feeling the blues after team implodes
Inte rim he ad coach suffe rs lame nts de fe at as Edinburgh crumble unde r pre ssure
DUNCAN Hodge , the inte rim he ad coach at Edinburgh, looke d a broke n man. The we e k that starte d with the ne ws he had faile d to land his dre am job on a long-te rm basis e nde d with his te am se lf de structing and e ffe ctive ly de stroying the last linge ring hope s the y had of finishing in the top-half of the Guinne ss PRO12.
“We just implode d,” he said. “It was ve ry similar to a couple of we e ks ago, kicking, e xe cution, de cision-making. I’m spe e chle ss. Bits we re positive but it doe s not he lp us. That is anothe r game we should have won, that is the sicke ning thing. It was just so, so disappointing.”
With that, he pulle d his jacke t hood up and le ft to take re fuge inside the clubhouse .
He was right. For an hour, Edinburgh had done e ve rything to show that he de se rve d be tte r than his SRU maste rs we re tre ating him. The n the te am se e me d to de tach the ir colle ctive brains and and surre nde re d 12 points in as many minute s to give away a game the y could and should have won.
To be fair, the re was an e le me nt of bad luck as we ll. Two of the ir trie s we re just inside the touchline and with a tricky wind, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne misse d both conve rsions – e ithe r would have won the match. On top of that the y had what looke d a pe rfe ctly good try disallowe d.
In poor we athe r conditions, ne ithe r side was pre pare d to try anything too cle ve r, so the re was a lot of kicking for position and a lot of one -out runne rs putting the ir he ads down and be ing smashe d to the ground within a fe w fe e t.
In be twe e n all that, Cardiff did manage a couple of pe naltie s kicke d by Ste ve Shingle r, the ce ntre , but it was Edinburgh who claime d the first try as the y took advantage of a se rie s of pe nalty awards on the ir lone visit to the opposition 22 and e ve ntually got a driving maul going to work Ne il Cochrane , the hooke r and captain, ove r for the score .
With Hidalgo-Clyne conve rting, it was e nough to ke e p the ir nose s in front at the bre ak. The y could have gone in e ve n furthe r ahe ad whe n Blair Kinghorn kicke d through but Chris De an could not control the ball as a couple of yards from the line .
The se cond half ope ne d pe rfe ctly for Edinburgh, e ve n though De an was again unlucky whe n what looke d a pe rfe ctly good try was disallowe d. The pre ssure position worke d, though, with Rory Schole s coming off his wing to race down the opposite touchline and score . He was soon back in the action, touching down on the othe r afte r a patie nt build-up.
Sublime offloading put Jarrad Hoe ta, the lock through with e nough support to se e Sion Be nne tt, the flanke r in for the try. That inspire d the We lsh who starte d to batte r at the Edinburgh line . With a pe nalty coming Lloyd Williams, the scrum-half, kicke d ove r the Edinburgh line and a lucky bounce gave him the winning try.
B Kinghorn; D Hoyland, G Bryce, C Dean, R Scholes; J Tovey (M Allen, 34-41), S Hidalgo-Clyne, J Cosgrove, N Cochrane (C), M McCallum (K Bryce, 34), F McKenzie (L Carmichael, 28), B Toolis, M Bradbury (G Gilchrist, 45-52), J Ritchie, C Du Preez.
M Morgan; A Cuthbert, W Halaholo (G Smith, 75), S Shingler, T James; G Anscombe, L Williams; R Gill (C Domachowski, 75), K Dacey (M Rees, 49), A Peikrishvili (sin bin: 14-24, S Andrews, 49), G Earle, J Hoeata (sin bin: 29-39), M Cook, S Bennett, N Williams. David Wilkinson (Ireland)
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