Edinburgh cup hopes take a hit
Edinburgh’s hopes of getting their Champions Cup campaign off to a winning start were dashed last night by a powerful display from French league leaders La Rochelle.
Richard Cockerill’s side emerged with the consolation of a losing bonus point from the pool game, and the head coach accepted the better side had won.
“It was tough,” he said. “We worked hard. We stayed in the battle and it was very, very tight right to the end. We weren’t quite good enough to finish the job off.
“Second half, it was an easy five points for them and that seemed to be the difference at the end. Against a very good team, we were in the mix right to the death. They were probably good for their win, just about. I’m very optimistic. We’ll get better.”
The visitors opened the scoring through a 12th-minute Jules Plisson penalty from the halfway line. Left-winger Raymond Rhule added an unconverted try after 25 minutes, then Jaco van der Walt opened Edinburgh’s account with a penalty from right in front of the posts.
The 3-8 half-time deficit flattered Edinburgh, and the gap went up to double figures within three minutes of the restart when some indecision in the home defence allowed Jeremy Sinzelle to power in for his team’s second, unconverted try.
Edinburgh opted to gamble when given a kickable penalty, sending the ball to touch, and their adventure was rewarded when Blair Kinghorn won the race to touch down after Chris Dean had chipped through.
Van der Walt missed the conversion attempt to leave the score at 8-13, but then La Rochelle substitute Ihaia West was also off target with a penalty, meaning Edinburgh held on for that losing bonus.
They next visit Sale Sharks on Saturday in a match they need to win to have any realistic chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals.