Edinburgh Rugby kicked off their Heineken Cup campaign with a hard-fought but well-deserved win over Aviva Premiership side London Irish today (20-19).
The win was the second in a row on the road for the capital club who defeated Treviso at the Stadio Monigo the week prior, and sets the club up perfectly for next Friday’s crucial clash with Parisian aristocrats, Racing Metro, at Murrayfield Stadium (18 November, kick-off 8pm).
>> Click here to buy tickets for Edinburgh Rugby v Racing Metro
It was a tight match throughout, with the home side posting a decent lead on the board on two occasions, but the fitness and tenacity of the visitors won through as they clawed the Irish Exiles back and put them away with two fine tries from winger Lee Jones and man of the match winning number 8 Stuart McInally, to a solitary effort from former scrum-half Ross Samson.
London Irish kicked themselves into an early lead thanks to two penalties from full-back Tom Homer but it was the visitors that grabbed the first try through winger Lee Jones.
The sprightly Borderer came of his wing to support the run of Tim Visser who fended off tackles between the tram lines before offloading inside to Jones to score with a dive and an outstretched arm at the far side corner flag.
Stand-off Harry Leonard, who missed an earlier penalty, made amends with the conversion to give the visitors a narrow lead (7-6).
Edinburgh indiscipline yielded another in-rage penalty and Homer, who sits at the top of the Premiership’s scoring charts, showed why with a third straight kick before converting Samson’s try to retain and stretch the lead.
However it was Edinburgh who had the last say of the half, when Leonard slotted another three points to bring the match back within a score at the interval (10-16).
HALF TIME: 10-16
Moments after the break, Edinburgh found themselves 10-19 down when Homer added another penalty six minutes in but Edinburgh’s ability to score tries would prove to be the ultimate difference.
Such was the cutting edge of the Edinburgh play, that the referee was forced to go to the TMO on two occasions to confirm the legitimacy, or otherwise, of two Edinburgh forays over the Irish try line, with neither of the arguable efforts from Geoff Cross and Tim Visser being awarded.
However, the try soon came when McInally, the only change to the starting side that beat Treviso, touched down for the team's second (and his first) for the club.
With the ball spun left to the backs, the Irish blitz defence rushed up at outside-centre Nick de Luca, but the internationalist was wise to their efforts and, within a fraction of a second, flicked the ball off his finger tips to McInally in space.
McInally then ran at the stretched defence and used his outside man to keep them open and drifting before bursting through the gap to score.
With replacement scrum-half Greig Laidlaw on the field, the kicking duties were handed over and he duly slotted the crucial conversion to ensure a tense finish to the match (17-19).
The second disallowed try opportunity followed and had Edinburgh hearts in mouths as the TMO replayed the downward pressure and control in Tim Visser’s touchdown, but it was not to be.
Of significance, however, was that the touch-judge and referee had allowed play to continue for the try attempt and, having spotted an earlier off-the-ball incident, awarded Edinburgh a penalty and yellow carded London Irish and England centre Shontanye Hape.
Laidlaw the stepped up the mark and slotted the penalty to put the visitors back in the lead before playing our the match for the fine win (20-19).
Edinburgh Rugby now seek to continue their run of form at home against Racing Metro this Friday in round two of the Heineken Cup at Murrayfield Stadium (Friday 18 November, kick-off 8pm).
With the doors reopened for the west stand supporters’ bar, it’s set to be a superb night with Edinburgh Rugby, with the crowd crucial to the side’s bid for successive success. >> Click here to buy tickets for Edinburgh Rugby v Racing Metro
FINAL SCORE: 19-20
London Irish: 15 Tom Homer; 14 Joe Ansbro; 13 Steven Shingler; 12 Shontayne Hape; 11 Adam Thompstone; 10 Dan Bowden CAPTAIN; 9 Ross Samson; 1 Alex Corbisiero; 2 James Buckland; 3 Paulica Ion; 4 Nick Kennedy; 5 Matt Garvey; 6 Bryn Evans; 7 Jamie Gibson; 8 Jebb Sinclair
Replacements: 16 Brian Blaney; 17 Max Lahiff; 18 Faan Rautenbach; 19 James Sandford; 20 Richard Thorpe; 21 Johnathan Spratt; 22 Adrian Jarvis; 23 Paul Hodgson
Edinburgh Rugby: 15 Jim Thompson; 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick de Luca, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Tim Visser; 10 Harry Leonard, 9 Mike Blair; 1 Allan Jacobsen, 2 Ross Ford CAPTAIN, 3 Geoff Cross, 4 Esteban Lozada, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 6 David Denton, 7 Ross Rennie, 8 Stuart McInally
Substitutes: 16 Steven Lawrie, 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 Lewis Niven (on/off for Cross), 19 Sean Cox (on for Denton), 20 Roddy Grant (on for Rennie), 21 Greig Laidlaw (on for Blair), 22 James King, 23 Tom Brown
Referee – Romain Poite (FFR)
