Young guns get run out as capital side help Warriors Shown by his fledglings
Defeated but with 27 players missing Cockerill is encouraged by fight
EDINBURGH may have lost this game, but it proved to be something of a passing out parade for some of their young players.
It not only demonstrated some talent coming through their ranks, but helped their fellow Scots as the Dragons needed a bonus-point win by a margin of more than 44 points to overtake Glasgow and claim fourth place in Conference
A – which may or may not mean a place in next season’s Champions Cup.
As Edinburgh’s team got younger and younger, the more the visitors came into the game, with some of the few senior players on show stepping up when needed as well.
That was especially true up front where Edinburgh were bringing academy players off the bench while the Dragons had Six Nations titles winners entering the fray, but it was the Edinburgh forwards who finished the second half stronger.
It looked at half time as though it could turn into the thrashing the Dragons needed, but instead, the home side were left clinging on by their fingertips and happy to escape with a win.
“The effort to get back into the game was brilliant, but you never want to see losing as an outcome to be celebrated,” said coach Richard Cockerill.
“But seeing where we were with injuries and struggling with the physicality in the first half, to step up our game and be going for a draw at the death was credit to the players – especially the young lads coming on for their first or second game.
“We can walk away with our heads held high, because if the players had given up at half time it could have been horrible. Instead we won the second half.
“I’m sure Danny [Glasgow coach Danny Wilson] would have been doing cartwheels at half time saying we needed to sort this out. We were not doing it for Glasgow, we were doing it for ourselves, but the table doesn’t lie and they deserve their place.
“We can look forward to going to Paris now, a new stadium for me, and a game which will be our season. We are hoping to have all our Scotland players back on
Tuesday and we will have a lot of work to get it right to shock Racing [in the Champions Cup].”
There was nothing riding on this game for Edinburgh after last Monday’s defeat to Cardiff, but they needed to avoid a thrashing to keep Glasgow in fourth place in the table and a possible place in the Champions Cup next season.
It was a task made harder without 27 senior players through injury and Scotland call-ups for the delayed Six Nations game in Paris. It was tougher still as the Dragons hit the ground running.
Second row Matthew Screech had a dream start with two tries in the first quarter, the first coming from a lineout drive and the second in support of a half break by outside half Sam Davies.
The outside half added the conversions and a penalty to make that 44-winning margin seem very possible.
Edinburgh hit back with their own period of pressure, going for the corners with a series of kickable penalties. Their patience was eventually rewarded when No.8 Mesu Kunavula forced his way over for the try, Jaco van der Walt missing the conversion.
That was to be one of the last
actions for the Scotland player as he went off injured, to be replaced by Matt Currie. The good news at the end of the game was that the decision was precautionary and he should be fit for Europe next weekend.
The Dragons extended their lead further with a well-worked team try going from side to side before right-wing Jonah Holmes went over in the corner, Davies again converting.
Edinburgh had an escape just before half time. They were attacking but lost the ball over the Dragons line for home centre Aneurin Owen to launch an attack from behind the posts which put left-wing Ashton Hewitt clear. However, he just touched the touchline with the outside of his boot and the try was chalked off.
That seemed a game-changer as it took another 25 minutes for either side to score and then it was Edinburgh closing the gap. Blair Kinghorn and Chris Dean combined neatly to take play to halfway and earn a penalty, replacement scrum-half Charlie Shiel went quickly and used support to take out the deeper defenders as he scored himself.
Kinghorn and Dean combined again to break up the middle with the full-back being given the space to get to the line for his side’s third try. He added the conversion to put the result in the melting pot.
It is strange to take encouragement from a defeat, but in this strange season, Edinburgh coach Cockerill was able to do just that.
Scorers, Dragons - Tries: Screech 2, Holmes.
Cons: S Davies 3. Pen: S Davies.
Edinburgh - Tries: Kunavula, Shiel, Kinghorn.
Cons: Kinghorn.
Dragons: J. Williams, Holmes, Owen, Dixon, Hewitt, S Davies, Bertranou, Harris, Hibbard, Fairbrother, J Davies, Screech, Wainwright, Keddie, Moriarty. Replacements: Lloyd for Owen (66), R Williams for Bertranou (55), Bateman for Harris (59), Dee for Hibbard (11), Brown for Fairbrother (54), Carter for J Davies (49), Fry for Keddie (72). Not Used: Tompkins. Edinburgh: Kinghorn, Blain, Bennett, Dean, Sau, Van Der Walt, Pyrgos, McCallum, Kitchen, Atalifo, Sykes, Hodgson, Bradbury, Crosbie, Kunavula. Replacements: Taylor for Bennett (78), Currie for Van Der Walt
(27), Shiel for Pyrgos (49), Gunn for McCallum (67), Harrison for Kitchen (56), Williams for Atalifo (56), Ferreira for Sykes (67), Boyle for Bradbury (51). Referee: Craig Evans (Wales).