WHAT A BUZZ!
Brilliant Edinburgh set up quarter-final with Wasps after sinking Bath in epic
EDINBURGH kept up their magnificent home run with a win over Bath that puts them into the European Challenge Cup quarterfinal against Wasps at home.
They remain undefeated at the DAM Health stadium this season with three wins in Europe and six in the United Rugby Championship.
Prop Pierre Schoeman was the man who sparked the home side to victory with a try and some superb forward play when the game hung in the balance.
No10 Blair Kinghorn wasn’t far behind him in the man-of-the-match stakes with a superb performance.
On this form, Edinburgh will fancy their chances against any team left, especially at the DAM Health stadium.
The artificial pitch suits their style of play, with winger Emilio Boffelli seeing plenty of the ball. He was a constant threat to Bath with his two tries and excellent goal kicking vital to his team.
Edinburgh pulled away with ease in the second half with the visitors not scoring a single point against a home side that scored six tries in total.
Under Mike Blair, they play open rugby that is a joy to watch for the home fans, who gave their side a standing ovation at the final whistle. With forwards and backs getting on the scoresheet, they threaten from all over the park which was something Bath could not cope with.
To take the scalp of a an English Premiership club is a feather in the cap of Edinburgh but Wasps will be a much tougher proposition than Bath.
The visitors made the perfect start with a try within the first two minutes from Sam Underhill. The flanker started the move by breaking through two tackles before offloading to prop Valery Moroz who made some hard yards towards the Edinburgh line. He had support from Underhill, who was on his shoulder to touch down. Orlando Bailey put over the extras.
The early loss of points didn’t bother the home side, who scored a try of their own eight minutes later. Kinghorn made a great break up the middle, drew two defenders before playing in Boffelli to score. Boffelli blotted his copybook with his conversion attempt that drifted wide from an easy position.
The game continued to be played at a frantic pace with neither side having the composure to put any decent moves together. Most of the play was in the middle of the park, with the next points on the board coming from the boot of Boffelli.
Bath got lucky with their next try through Underhill. Bailey missed an easy penalty attempt that bounced back into play off the post. It caused all sorts of problems in the home defence with the Bath flanker diving on the ball after indecision from Ben Vellacott. French referee Ludovic Cayre didn’t see the touchdown and only awarded the score after watching three re-runs of the incident on the big screen.
Kinghorn brought the crowd to its feet on the half-hour mark with a superb individual try. The No10 saw a gap in the Bath defence and sprinted under the posts which left Boffelli with a simple conversion.
Bath were next on the scoreboard after some disciplined forwards play left them close enough to the line for scrum-half Ben Spencer to
just get over the line. Bailey was relieved of his kicking duties after some poor attempts with Spencer taking over and converting his first kick at goal.
Spencer missed a long-range conversion just after the break in what was a slow start to the second half. Edinburgh took inspiration from prop Schoeman, who put in some thumping runs up the middle that caused havoc.
His solo run made space for second row Marshall Sykes, who nearly went over before Schoeman got on the ball again to crash over for a try converted by Boffelli.
Heading into the last quarter, the home side went over for a vital score in the corner. Replacement Jaco van der Walt was the provider to Boffelli, who went over in the corner. The Argentine put over the tricky conversion.
With 10 minutes left, centre Mark Bennett went over for Edinburgh’s fifth try to make the game save. Cammy Hutchison was yellowcarded three minutes later but, with the game now firmly in the bag, it was not a worry for the home side.
The icing on the cake for the hosts came two minutes from time when replacement Conor Boyle went over for a try. Boffelli out over the conversion to cap an impressive performance.
SCORERS; EDINBURGH — Tries: Boffelli (2), Kinghorn, Schoeman, Bennett, Boyle. Cons: Boffelli (3). Pen: Boffelli.
BATH — Tries: Underhill (2)Spencer. Cons: Bailey, Spencer.