Edinburgh pulled off a fantastic 23-16 Magners League win over a vastly experienced Ospreys outfit at Murrayfield on Saturday night.
Tries from Jim Thompson and Tim Visser were the obvious highlights of a success that had its foundations in a brilliant collective shift from the home pack and some tremendous prompting from the all-new half-back pairing of Mike Blair and Greig Laidlaw.
The latter, making his first Edinburgh start at stand-off, capitalised to the full on the platform provided by his forwards, never straying far from the gainline and giving Edinburgh great continuity with his offloading skills in contact.
Laidlaw was also nerveless from the tee, landing a series of crucial kicks from all manner of positions to condemn Ospreys to their first defeat in eight games. The Welsh side have now not won at Murrayfield since 2007.
After giving interim head coach Nick Scrivener a first victory in the role, Edinburgh will look to maintain Saturday's form when they head to Galway on Friday to play Connacht at the Sportsground.
Laidlaw was voted the media's man of the match, with the outstanding David Denton taking the official award.
It was a tale of the tee in the early stages at Murrayfield as respective kickers Laidlaw and Dan Biggar each were granted opportunities to find their range. The Ospreys stand-off landed two penalties inside the first six minutes but Laidlaw, starting an Edinburgh game at fly-half for the first time, soon replied with one of his own after the visitors were pulled up for holding on.
Ospreys looked the more menacing with ball in hand, and gave us the first score of the evening in the 14th minute. Full-back Richard Fussell made the initial break, drawing the Edinburgh cover and creating an overlap on the right before feeding the supporting Biggar for an easy run under the posts.
The young out-half converted his own try to give the Welsh side a ten-point lead.
Edinburgh thought they had come up with the perfect form of instant response when a magnificent move, featuring a couple of lovely offloads from the impressive Laidlaw, gave Denton the chance to launch a typically barnstorming run for the line.
The big No.8 tried desperately to apply convincing downward pressure under the closest of attention from the Ospreys defence, but the TMO ruled that he had knocked-on. The away team drew breath before putting in to a five-metre scrum.
Edinburgh continued to press, and after further good work from Laidlaw and Blair, the Jed man put through a teasing little kick that had Ben Cairns bursting through in a gallant bid to get to the ball first. The centre couldn't quite get the nudge on the last defender, but the momentum was with the home team.
They duly exploited this dominance with four minutes of the first half remaining. On the back of a five-metre scrum, Edinburgh sought first to breach the Ospreys line through their forwards, Denton, Kyle Traynor and skipper Andrew Kelly each showing excellent leg-drive to make vital ground close to the target.
Showing welcome patience, the home team were happy to wait for the correct moment to really go for the jugular, and it arrived in the shape of a mismatch on the right. Blair and Cairns quickly ferried the ball to the waiting Thompson, who crossed to great acclaim in the corner.
Greig Laidlaw landed a magnificent conversion from out on the right-hand touchline to secure full reward from the try.
HALF-TIME: EDINBURGH 10-13 OSPREYS
It was vital that Edinburgh kept the foot to the floor in the nascent stages of the second half, and to this end it was encouraging to see them win another penalty within eight minutes of the restart, for offside in the backs. Laidlaw did the necessary from a central position to tie the scores.
Biggar could have nudged Ospreys back in front straight away, but his penalty attempt from right of centre drifted wide of the upright. The out-half fared better at his next attempt, apparently brought about by Esteban Lozada rushing up offside. The Argentina international received a yellow card for his troubles.
Despite their numerical inferiority, Edinburgh continued to take the game to the Welsh, and roared into the lead thanks to another beguiling try and conversion. It was Tim Visser who got on the scoresheet this time, the hosts working the ball quickly from right to left, where Scott MacLeod got away the pass that put the Dutchman into space.
Visser still had plenty to do, but he tackled the challenge with aplomb, accelerating away from the cover before spinning out of Tommy Bowe's tackle to dot the ball down for his fourth try in two home games against this opposition. It was another difficult conversion, but Laidlaw stepped up nonchalantly and banged the ball between the sticks.
The Ospreys mounted a late challenge to the home line, but the defence held out, and Edinburgh broke upfield through Laidlaw and Thompson, before the Welsh infringed at the ruck. Laidlaw was successful with another penalty, to extend the lead to 23-16, and that's how it remained.
Magners Man of the Match: David Denton (Edinburgh)
EDINBURGH: 15 J Thompson; 14 S Webster, 13 B Cairns, 12 J King, 11 T Visser; 10 G Laidlaw, 9 M Blair; 1 K Traynor, 2 A Kelly (c), 3 D Young, 4 S MacLeod, 5 E Lozada, 6 F McKenzie, 7 S Newlands, 8 D Denton
Substitutes: 16 A Walker, 17 R Hislop, 18 J Gilding, 19 S Turnbull, 20 S Dewar, 21 L Jones, 22 D Blair, 23 T Brown
OSPREYS: 15 R Fussell; 14 T Bowe, 13 S Parker, 12 A Beck, 11 N Walker; 10 D Biggar, 9 R Webb; 1 D Jones, 2 H Bennett, 3 A Jones, 4 I Gough, 5 I Evans, 6 T Smith, 7 J Tipuric (c), 8 R Jones
Substitutes: 16 R Hibbard, 17 R Bevington, 18 C Griffiths, 19 A W Jones, 20 J Collins, 21 T Isaacs, 22 J Hook, 23 A Bishop
Referee: D Phillips (IRFU)
