EURO FEARS FOR CAPITAL
Cardiff win gives Edinburgh the Blues
NOT EVEN the return of try-machine Tim Visser could inspire Edinburgh to a victory over Cardiff Blues last night. The Scotland winger, who came off the bench, had been out injured with a broken ankle since October last year and his return is at least a boost to incoming national head coach Vern Cotter, who should have the flying Dutchman available for the summer Tests.
However, last night’s defeat all but ends Edinburgh’s hopes of finishing among the top six of the PRO12 that qualify for next year’s new European Rugby Champions Cup — which is replacing the Heineken Cup. Seven teams from the league will qualify, but one of the Italian sides must also be included, meaning Alan Solomons’ men now look set to miss out.
Cardiff made the perfect start with a penalty from Gareth Davies that was quickly cancelled out by another from Jack Cuthbert.
But it was Edinburgh who took the lead in spectacular fashion when a move involving Andries Strauss and Tom Brown released Matt Scott who made a tremendous straight run through the Cardiff defence to score.
A Cuthbert conversion stretched their lead, but poor defending allowed Corey Allan to score a try in the corner, Davies converting.
For the next 10 minutes, the play was bogged down in midfield with neither side managing to gain the upper hand.
Cardiff were showing more ambition but t he Edinburgh defence were holding firm with the back row trio of David Denton, Cornell du Preez and Mike Coman getting through a power of work.
The dam finally burst on the half- hour mark, when Cardiff decided against taking a kickable penalty. Instead they kicked to the corner, took the l i ne- out ball superbly well and fed Filo Paulo, who crashed over f or a try converted by Davies.
Nothing was going right f or Edinburgh, with the home side making far too many errors.
On top of that, Cardiff were far sharper in attack and clearly up for the challenge.
The half-time whistle couldn’t come soon enough for Edinburgh, who had struggled to make any sort of impression, despite Scott’s try.
The home side were caught cold within a minute of the re-start when they struggled to gather the ball at the re-start.
It was worked back by Cardiff, with Alex Cuthbert playing in Dan Fish f or a try t hat l eft t he Edinburgh defence all at sea, Davies again converting.
Within five minutes, the hosts, inspired by a break from Coman, got their second try of the game.
Grant Gilchrist did the hard work, taking the ball up to the Cardiff line before releasing Tom Brown to go over for a try converted by Cuthbert.
That should have been the signal for Edinburgh to take the upper hand, but instead they let Cardiff gain lots of territory.
They needed to shake things up, so it was no surprise when Grayson Hart was replaced by Sean Kennedy on the hour mark.
He made l i ttle i mpression to proceedings to begin with, however, as Edinburgh continued to be pegged back in their own half.
The mistakes just kept on coming, with Cardiff seeing more and more of the ball. The Welsh outfit were finding it too easy to go straight down the middle.
It was only a great tackle from Jack Cuthbert that stopped Alex Cuthbert scoring a try that would have killed the game.
There was an inevitability about Cardiff getting the next score and it came after seven attacking phases, in which they took the ball from one side of the pitch to the other before substitute Dafydd Hewitt went over for the try.
It looked like the only bright spot for Edinburgh was to come three minutes from time, when Visser came on to huge cheers from the Meggetland crowd.
But the home side also managed a consolation touch down at the end when du Preez, who had been one of Edinburgh’s better performers last night, went over in the corner for a try. EDINBURGH — Try: Scott, Brown, du Preez. Cons: Cuthbert (2) Pen: Cuthbert. CARDIFF — Try: Allen, Paulo, Fish, Hewitt. Cons: Davies (3) Pen: Davies.