Capital men are just champion!
EDINBURGH.. 31 NEWCASTLE.. 13
Edinburgh got their heineken Champions Cup campaign firmly back on track last night as they moved to the top of Pool Five with a convincing bonus-point win over newcastle Falcons.
Although the English side were first to score and held the lead at half-time, there was little doubt that Edinburgh head coach richard Cockerill deserved to finish with the bragging rights over his old friend dean richards.
With scrum-half henry Pyrgos providing the control and Viliame Mata imperious in the back row, the home side had the platform to wear down Falcons. Full-back blair Kinghorn was also superb, grabbing the crucial fourth try in what was an energetic display.
newcastle were forced into changes an hour before kick-off when starting tighthead prop david Wilson and their reserve no 3 Trevor davison failed late fitness tests. Sam Lockwood, who was not in the original matchday squad but registered for European competition, took his place.
The visitors, therefore, had to go into the game with seven rather than eight replacements due to the late injuries, with prop Sami Mavinga having to cover both sides of the scrum from the bench. European rugby refused newcastle permission to bring in specialist tighthead Jack Payne, as he was not registered in time.
it was not the ideal preparation for Falcons head coach richards, who was already missing half a dozen of his first team through injury.
Edinburgh, meanwhile, had the luxury of naming a near full-strength squad for the match, which was played in blustery conditions.
despite their pre-match problems, newcastle took the lead after just four minutes when prop Pierre Schoeman was penalised for killing the ball in front of the posts. brett Connon had the easy task of putting over the first kick of the evening.
Ten minutes later, Edinburgh’s forwards set up a superb try from a line-out drive. They went through several attacking phases patiently before hamish Watson picked up near the line to go over.
in tricky conditions, Jaco van der Walt did well to put over the conversion off the post.
both sides were struggling with the wet weather, with newcastle winger Tom Arscott failing to gather out wide when he had a chance to go in at the corner.
Even reliable kickers were struggling to cope, with Pyrgos putting the ball out on the full when he had a simple clearance from his own half.
On the half-hour mark, newcastle regained the lead when Kinghorn was caught in no-man’s land. The Scotland full-back moved out of position and was left marking no one, to allow winger Adam radwan to run in unopposed. Connon put over a terrific conversion from near the touchline.
Two minutes later, Van der Walt hit the post with a penalty after Mata forced a mistake at the scrum from the newcastle front row. The Edinburgh fly-half made up for it three minutes later with a penalty.
in the 38th minute grant gilchrist was penalised, which allowed Connon to put over another fine penalty in such tough conditions. it gave the Falcons a three-point lead at the break.
Two minutes after half-time — and presumably with a flea in their ear from Cockerill — the home side began to fight their way back into the game.
From a line-out, they started a driving maul that led to them being camped on the newcastle line. Patience again proved to be a virtue with Pyrgos finding Chris dean on the burst, who scored under the posts. Van der Walt put over the conversion.
duhan van der Merwe had a chance to score before being forced into touch, but the pressure kept on coming.
it was such one-way traffic that referee Marius Mitrea warned Falcons players that the next player illegally stopping an Edinburgh attack would be yellow-carded. Yet that card failed to materialise, as he penalised the whole newcastle team for illegally stopping an Edinburgh attack by awarding a penalty try.
A super run up the line from winger darcy graham nearly secured a bonus-point try, but TMO Stefano Penne ruled he had a foot in touch.
replacement hooker david Cherry put in a try-saving tackle on radwan when it looked like he was going to score on 66 minutes, snuffing out what would be newcastle’s last hope of finding a way back into the match.
grabbing a fourth try was crucial for the hosts, bringing with it the promise of a vital bonus point.
Kinghorn started the move with Mata putting in a superb pass as Edinburgh swept across the pitch. Van der Walt put a kick in behind the newcastle defence, with Kinghorn having time to pick up and dive over the line to score.
Van der Walt added the extras to take the final score to 31-13.
Edinburgh travel to newcastle next weekend in the second of back-to-back European matches, and will fancy their chances of building on this win.