EDINBURGH’S BEST PROVES NOT QUITE ENOUGH
MONTPELLIER 21 EDINBURGH 15
Edinburgh produced one of their greatest Euro displays yesterday – only to be left furious and frustrated. Their quest for a precious away win was wrecked by leaking two gift touchdowns. Montpellier’s early confidence was underlined when they twice snubbed the chance of three points from penalties. The gamble paid off in the seventh minute when fullback Henry Immelman barged over to give Ruan Pienaar an easy conversion. Gunners had to soak up further pressure – however they hit back in spectacular style midway through the half. Henry Pyrgos was hauled down a metre short following a speedy offloading sequence. Skipper Stuart McInally was ideally positioned to scoop up the ball and dive over. Simon Hickey banged over the awkward conversion to tie the scores. The confidence of the visitors visibly surged and they pinned back Montpellier in their 22-zone for a long spell. But defensive slackness allowed the hosts to snatch back the lead against the run of play. Winger Benjamin Fall brushed off poor challenges by Hickey and Blair Kinghorn to cruise to the line – Pienaar finding the target. The hosts then cashed in clinically on another Edinburgh blunder as Gabriele Ngandebe latched on to a crossfield lob with plenty of space and time to finish. Pienaar’s strike opened up a 14-point gap – but there was still time for Hickey to repair some of the damage with a penalty before the interval. Gunners cranked up the pace again after the restart and Montpellier were reduced to 14 when World Cup winner Bismarck du Plessis was yellow-carded. Hamish Watson thought he had pounced for a try as a scrum broke up – but a video re-run showed he had been marginally offside. The lifeline moment came five minutes later – thanks to Dougie Fife, who darted over in the wake of a Bill Mata feed. The tension level rose when a Magnus Bradbury effort was chalked off for obstruction by Simon Berghan. The exasperation of the Gunners was complete as ref Wayne Barnes missed a blatant piece of illegal handball in a ruck as they were pressing for a clinching score. And they had to settle for a consolation point.