Gunners grind out win as Bulls are denied late try
EDINBURGH 17 BULLS 10
They rode their luck at the end, but Edinburgh did just enough to pick up their second win of this United Rugby Championship campaign last night.
It wasn’t classic match by any stretch of the imagination, but the endeavour of both teams in difficult conditions ensured that the 6,000 crowd at the DAM Health Stadium left feeling they had been entertained.
The result was a big relief for head coach Mike Blair after watching his team surrender commanding positions twice in recent outings, losing to a last-minute drop-goal away to Benetton a fortnight ago and then having to make do with a frustrating draw at home to the Stormers last weekend.
“We’ve talked a fair bit about how we manage the end of the game and still didn’t get it quite right,” he conceded.
“But what I said to the guys afterwards was that I hate watching games in the rain, I think they are a poor spectacle, but I loved that game.
“I loved the heart that we showed and the will to put the effort in for the jersey.
“We ended up with players out of position all over the place, with two forwards defending in the backs, and found a way to get a result so I am delighted with that.”
Edinburgh took a fifth minute lead when a well-judged grubber from Damien Hoyland set up a Henry Immelman try, and although Bulls struck back through a Chris Smith penalty, they then shot themselves in the foot with some silly indiscipline.
Jaco van der Walt took full advantage kicking nine points to make it 14-3 at the break, but the stand-off picked up a shoulder injury in the last play of the half, and without another frontline
No10 in the match-day squad, centre James Lang had to take on that responsibility.
Then, after Lang suffered a groin injury, Edinburgh found themselves really up against it for the final 10 minutes.
Bulls skipper Marcell Coetzee muscled over and Morne Steyn slotted the conversion to narrow the gap to four points, which was a bit too close for comfort.
But to Edinburgh’s credit they bounced right back and Bennett showed good composure to kick a long-range penalty which stretched it back to a seven point game.
Bulls weren’t finished yet, however, and they came back hard.
When winger Madosh Tambwe brushed past Damien Hoyland and Darcy Graham on his way to touching down in the corner with less than five minutes to go, it looked like Steyn – the veteran stand-off who kicked the winning points for the Springboks in this summer’s third Test against the Lions – would have a chance to snatch a draw.
Fortunately for the hosts, referee Ben Whitehouse opted to review the try on the big screen and reached the conclusion that
it should be chalked off. “I think it was a fairly clear and obvious double movement,” insisted Blair afterwards.
“You need to get these decisions sometimes.
“Against Benetton two weeks ago we didn’t get any decisions in the last five minutes, and against the Stormers they got the benefit of the doubt three or four times, so these things happen.
“Let’s reflect on the big strides we’ve made to see out that game.”
Next up for Edinburgh is a trip to Italy to take on struggling Zebre Parma next Saturday lunchtime.