Edinburgh seal progress but Gilchrist’s off night is a significant concern
Edinburgh played their part in Llanelli to earn a last-16 place in the Challenge Cup, now spending the weekend monitoring other results to see if they have earned a home tie after beating the Scarlets 31-19. there was bad news with captain Grant Gilchrist being sent off for two yellow cards, both for head contact in tackles without any great force. It means there is a question mark hanging over his availability for Scotland against Wales in the Six Nations next month, with the potential of a disciplinary hearing to follow.
They secured the try bonus point by half-time and while the Scarlets have struggled in this competition this season, no more could have been asked of the Scots than to put their opponents away in clinical fashion.
They were particularly effective from close range, scoring four of their five tries from no more than two yards out. Flanker Jamie Ritchie had around half an hour off the bench to show he deserves to be in the team in Cardiff and potentially as captain.
Starts do not come much better than the one enjoyed by Edinburgh. They were gifted territory by a poor kick and lineout steal, but took only two minutes to make the most of that with scrum-half Ben Vellacott darting over.
A series of penalties from English referee Sara Cox meant they were soon back, camped on the home side’s try line getting their second try. This time it was the power of WP Nel that brought the score, Ben Healy converting them both.
The Scarlets backs were prepared to back their handling skills on a cold night and that paid off when they worked right wing Steff
Evans clear up the left-hand side. His cross kick was collected by scrum-half Kieran Hardy, while hooker Dan Cherry got back to prevent the try. However, he did so from an offside position and was yellow carded.
The Scarlets hit back immediately with a series of forward drives, before using their backs to work centre Joe Roberts clear for their first try.
Edinburgh’s response was almost comically easy. Healy launched a free-kick high in the air, full-back Emiliano leapt to catch it, coming down past the last defender and putting supporting wing Duhan van der Merwe in for the simple score. Flanker Hamish Watson soon added the bonuspoint try, another close range effort with Healy adding the conversion. However, any thoughts that it was effectively job done for the Scots was soon ended when captain Gilchrist was yellow carded for a high tackle. It was just the lack of power that meant he avoided red and while Pierre Schoeman added the fifth try early in the second half and just when it looked as though Edinburgh would get out of the game with no damage, they lost Gilchrist to the second yellow.
Tomi Lewis added a second try for the home team just before the end, but that was of little concern.
In the other fixture in Edinburgh’s pool last night, Gloucester secured a home tie in the last 16 with a dominant 35-5 victory over Castres at Kingsholm. Scotland fly-half Adam Hastings was among the try scorers for the hosts, who crossed the line four times.