Edinburgh hold on to edge Ulster in thriller
Edinburgh soothed the pain of their Zebre humiliation by defeating ulster in scintillating fashion last night.
in the most exciting guinness Pro12 match seen at Murrayfield this season, Edinburgh interim head coach duncan hodge got the reaction he was looking for after last weekend’s demoralising defeat to the lowly italians.
no wonder hodge went out of his way to congratulate every single one of his players as they left the pitch to a resounding ovation from the home crowd.
Missing six players who had been rested on orders of Scotland head coach Vern Cotter, they put in a performance full of passion and energy. hardly a tackle was missed, hardly a penalty given up in a highly disciplined display.
hodge had claimed that the loss to Zebre had just been a blip and on this performance he may have a point.
granted there were some nervous moments near the end when South African World Cup winner ruan Pienaar burst into life but some superb tackling kept them out.
Full-back blair Kinghorn, winger damien hoyland and captain neil Cochrane were among the Edinburgh heroes in what was their most important league win of the season.
The victory rejuvenates their hopes of making the league play-offs and also boosts hodge’s prospects of being given the job on a permanent basis.
Edinburgh got off to the perfect start with a well worked firstminute try. Jason Tovey made the initial break before Sean Kennedy played a reverse pass to Fijian Viliame Mata, who beat two men to score.
Tovey’s conversion was followed by some great attacking phase play from the home side. First, secondrow Fraser McKenzie went close near the posts before the ball was sent along the backs.
Kennedy drew the ulster defence wide before playing a pass to Kinghorn, who put in hoyland for the second try.
Things got even better when Kinghorn put over a long-range penalty.
The first time ulster looked dangerous came inevitably through their star man Charles Piutau. The former All black made a great break up the line and only a great tackle from Kinghorn stopped him in his tracks.
With Tovey off for an assessment on a head knock, duncan Weir came on after nearly two months out with a fractured jaw. The Scotland fly-half immediately gave away a penalty that Pienaar put over. Weir made up for his error with a penalty from in front of the posts just before the half hour mark.
The Edinburgh stand-off was taking time to settle and was nearly made to pay for a poor clearance kick that was charged down by Tommy bowe. Only a touchdown by Kinghorn behind his own line, after he beat bowe in a sprint, saved a certain try.
Weir’s last contribution before he came back off after 13 minutes on the pitch was putting over a penalty before he made way for Tovey, who had been passed fit to return to action again after his head knock assessment.
Jamie ritchie was the next Edinburgh player to go off injured which meant back-row forward Cornell du Preez was forced into action.
not surprisingly, when the halftime whistle went the Edinburgh team went up the tunnel to loud cheers from their fans after dominating ulster from the start. Facing an 18-point deficit, ulster started the second half at a high tempo. With Pienaar pulling the strings, they very nearly got a try back with only a tackle from ben Toolis stopping winger bowe.
under serious pressure from ulster, the discipline of the Edinburgh tackling kept the visitors out.
After surviving the early onslaught, hodge’s men went further ahead with an exciting try. du Preez and Kennedy were both involved before replacement Michael Allen played in no 8 Magnus bradbury. Tovey put over the extras.
Edinburgh had a let-off when bowe, pushed on by his forwards, got over the line but irish referee Andrew grace ruled he had been held up.
Even a piece of genius from Pienaar couldn’t get ulster back in the game. it was his disguised kick over the top that was anticipated best by Piutau, who looked to have touched the ball down ahead of du Preez.
Controversially, referee grace, after consultation with the TMO, ruled that Piutau had knocked the ball on before touching down.
On the hour mark, captain neil Cochrane, who had an outstanding game, had to go off injured but the home side had Scotland international Stuart Mcinally on the bench to replace him.
ulster got a try through replacement Aaron Cairns when he out-jumped Tovey to collect a Luke Marshall chipped pass to score in the corner. Pienaar followed it up by putting over the extras.
With nine minutes left, replacement Jacob Stockdale went over for another try after Toolis was caught out at a ruck. Pienaar put over the conversion.
SCORERS: EDINBURGH — Tries: Mata, Hoyland, Bradbury. Cons: Tovey (2). Pens: Kinghorn, Weir (2). ULSTER — Tries: Cairns, Stockdale. Cons: Pienaar (2). Pens: Pienaar.