Scott setback as Edinburgh falter
SCOTLAND international Matt Scott is a major doubt for the Six Nations match with France after picking up an arm injury in Edinburgh’s home defeat to Pro12 leaders Connacht.
He was expected to feature at Murrayfield a week tomorrow but is now in a race against time to prove his fitness.
The centre came off in visible distress, holding his lower left arm and elbow midway through the first half after being injured in a tackle.
It marred a brave fightback by Alan Solomons’ young side, who were without a host of Scotland stars, after they had been 14-0 down at the break.
Tries from Chris Dean and Cornell du Preez nearly turned the game around before Eion McKeon’s late try pushed the visitors further ahead.
A l ast- minute penalty from Sam Hidalgo- Clyne earned Edinburgh a losing bonus point.
Edinburgh were kept deep within their 22 for long periods, with only some impressive tackles stopping the Irish outfit from scoring more points.
The visitors missed an easy chance to go ahead when Craig Ronaldson hit the post with his penalty effort.
They finally made the breakthrough, however, when Bundee Aki cut through the home defence to play in AJ MacGinty for the opening try. Ronaldson made amends for his penalty miss by putting over the conversion.
The one-way traffic continued, albeit Danie Poolman was deemed by the TMO not to have touched the ball down when he went over the line.
With Edinburgh second-row Anton Bresler then yellow-carded for pulling down a maul, things were going from bad to worse for Solomons’ side.
Connacht took f ull advantage of having the extra man when they scored a clever team try. Former Warriors second-row Aly Muldowney took the ball at the line-out and, with his forwards keeping it tight, they got to the line before flanker Jake Heenan peeled off to score.
The extras from Ronaldson gave the visitors a deserved 14-0 lead.
At least there was an Edinburgh revival in the last few minutes of the half. Hamish Watson provided the spark before he became the victim of a reckless high tackle by Tiernan O’Halloran which put the Connacht full-back in the sin bin.
That allowed scrum-half HidalgoClyne to kick at goal but his poor effort summed up the hosts’ awful first period.
Thankfully, Edinburgh looked like men on a mission when they came out after the interval, starting the half at a much higher tempo.
Winger Damien Hoyland came close to scoring in the corner before setting up Dean for the hosts’ opening try.
Hoyland’s superb long pass missed out Ben Toolis and was latched on to by Dean, who crashed over.
Hidalgo- Clyne’s problems with the boot continued, however, with his conversion drifting wide.
Any t houghts of an Edinburgh comeback at that stage were swept aside when Aki waltzed through the home defence to score. With Ronaldson putting over the conversion, the points kept on coming for Connacht.
But Hoyland continued trying to inspire Edinburgh and his try, converted by Hidalgo-Clyne, cut the deficit to nine.
On the hour mark, that gap was reduced again when No 8 du Preez went over in the corner after the TMO ruled he had not been pushed into touch beforehand. Hidalgo-Clyne, however, sent his conversion against the crossbar.
However, Connacht went further ahead with seven minutes left, replacement McKeon scoring under the posts for a try converted by MacGinty.
Hidalgo-Clyne salvaged a losing bonus point with a last-gasp penalty.