A try 11 minutes from time from second-row Ben Toolis gave Edinburgh Rugby a crucial win over the Scarlets at BT Murrayfield yesterday and reinvigorated their Guinness PRO12 play-off hopes.
Prior to this game in the capital sunshine, Alan Solomons’ men had lost three league matches on the spin and were in danger of drifting out of the top four picture.
However, this 24-23 win will give them renewed confidence as the campaign reaches the business end.
It also rounded off a positive few days for Scottish rugby with Glasgow Warriors, Scotland under-20 and Scotland having also won matches since Thursday night.
In this one Edinburgh were 23-16 down at half-time, but in the second half back-row Hamish Watson, Toolis and replacements such as Simon Berghan, Magnus Bradbury and Chris Dean worked hard to get the home side back on the front foot.
And indeed it was a forceful break from Bradbury up the right hand side which eventually led to Scotland cap Toolis taking a pass from scrum-half Sean Kennedy to go over from short range for the winning score.
Defensive frailties will still be a concern for Solomons though and they know that they will need to tighten up in that respect when leaders Connacht come to town on Friday night.
After the match Solomons said: “This win is critical for us, we knew that we had to win this one to keep our top four hopes alive.
“We made it difficult for ourselves in the first half, but the subs came on and did well and the guys sorted a few things out after the interval.
“The players showed enormous resolve and energy, particularly in the last 10 minutes, to hang in and get the win.
“We know that it was not perfect, but the Scarlets are dangerous opponents who are good at the breakdown and disrupt ball well. The guys never panicked and that pleased me.
“We know have a quick turnaround before Connacht on Friday night, but the guys have a break after that so we will be putting everything into that match.”
Edinburgh took the lead after five minutes when teenage full-back Blair Kinghorn showed that he has a good temperament by calmly slotting over a penalty from 40 metres out.
The Scarlets levelled things up three minutes later when stand-off Aled Thomas kicked a penalty of his own.
The first try arrived in the 11th minute when Edinburgh stand-off Phil Burleigh showed good awareness to go over with Kinghorn converting.
As they had done earlier though, as soon as Edinburgh had scored they gave the opposition an easy chance to put points on the board.
After back-row Jamie Ritchie had strayed marginally offside the Scarlets were awarded a penalty and Thomas kicked it over.
Centre Hadleigh Parkes then pounced on an error to score a try for the Scarlets before Kinghorn kicked his second penalty in the 22nd minute to put Edinburgh 13-11 up.
The end-to-end nature of the first half continued and the Scarlets got a try through James Davies, who was rightly later named man of the match.
Five minutes before the interval things looked like they were slipping away from Edinburgh when the Scarlets winger Steffan Evans went in for the Welsh side’s third try.
Thomas converted before Kinghorn’s third penalty made it 23-16 to the visitors at half-time.
Berghan came on for John Andress in the Edinburgh front-row at half-time and he seemed to bring a bit more solidity to the scrum.
Kinghorn’s fourth penalty brought Edinburgh to within four points of their opponents just two minutes into the half and they seemed to take confidence from that.
Five minutes later Burleigh thought he had scored his second try of the day, but after consultation with the TMO from the referee it was ruled out for a double movement.
In the 55th minute centre Michael Allen made a good break through the midfield, but play was brought back for a forward pass.
After the hour mark Solomons made further changes with George Turner and Bradury coming on for skipper Neil Cochrane and No.8 Cornell Du Preez and in the 69th minute the all important second try came.
As mentioned Toolis was the man who got over the line, but Kinghorn’s conversion attempt hit the post and Edinburgh had just a one point lead at 24-23.
With eight minutes to go Berghan was penalised for needlessly coming in from the side, but Thomas hooked his penalty attempt badly and Edinburgh held on for a much-needed victory.
Scorers: Edinburgh Rugby: Tries: Burleigh, Toolis. Pens: Kinghorn 4. Con: Kinghorn. Scarlets: Tries: Parkes, J Davies, S Evans. Pens: Thomas 2. Con: Thomas.
Edinburgh Rugby: B Kinghorn; D Hoyland, M Allen, S Beard, T Brown; P Burleigh, S Kennedy; A Dell, N Cochrane, J Andress, A Bresler, B Toolis, J Ritchie, C Du Preez, H Watson. Subs: G Turner, G Shiells, S Berghan, A Toolis, M Bradbury, N Fowles, C Dean, D Fife.
Scarlets: M Collins; G Owen, R King, H Parkes, S Evans; A Thomas, A Davies; P John, K Myhill, P Edwards, G Earle, D Bulbring, M Paulino, M Allen, J Davies. Subs: R Elias, D Evans, R Jones, R Pitman, W Boyde, R Williams, D Jones, M Tagicakibau.
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