Grenoble 34
Edinburgh 23
UTTER heartbreak for Edinburgh. They did everything they could to claim a spot in the European Challenge Cup quarter-finals and led for 70 minutes but a sloppy finale cost them the match and the losing bonus point.
So when the final result from Agen, where London Irish were playing, filtered through, it became obvious that they had not only lost the match but despite having the path to the quarter-finals made as simple as it could be, they had lost out on that as well.
London |rish did claim the try bonus point in Agen, putting them level with Edinburgh on points in the pool and ahead of them on the head-to-head thanks to the hammering they dished out in Reading last December.
Edinburgh can only blame themselves, they had the game under control for 70 minutes but their inability to hang on to the ball when it really mattered cost them and Gio Aplon, the South African former sevens star, crossed twice to steal a match Edinburgh could have made safe.
All week, Alan Solomons, the Edinburgh head coach, had been spelling out to his players that this was a game they had to win, and even though results earlier in the day meant they actually needed only a single point, he made sure no word of that leaked to the players who were still under orders to pull out all the stops going for a win.
Anyway, both teams were realistically locked into going flat out for the win, with Edinburgh picking the strongest side they have been able to all season, recalling seven players picked in the Scotland RBS Six Nations Championship squad with the pack looking particularly useful.
It certainly looked that way early on when they won a line out five yards out, turned it into a maul and drove John Hardie over the line for the opening try with Sam Hidalgo-Clyne adding the conversion.
They did go on to hold the lead for most of the first half, but were maybe a bit lucky that they did with Will Helu, the Tongan wing, both villain and hero.
After Jonathan Wisniewski, the home fly-half, had put his side back in touch with two penalties to answer one from Hidalgo-Clyne, he was possibly a touch lucky that a deliberate knock-on on his own 22 resulted in nothing worse than a penalty.
It did cost his side the lead briefly as Grenoble went for the line-out and drove Arnaud Heguy, the hooker, over the line for the go-ahead try with Wisniewski converting, but it did not last long as Helu took full advantage of his reprieve, popping up in exactly the right place as Grenoble made a mess of a high kick on their 22 and he collected the ball to go over to keep his side in front at the break.
Grenoble, were still threatening with occasional flashes of brilliance from most of their backs but it remained a night for the kickers with Wisniewski and Hidalgo-Clyne exchanging penalties to keep the gap the same.
That was when Aplon came into the game. The first try had an element of luck to it as he latched on to a speculative kick when his side had a penalty coming and then he again found the ball from another kick out of defence to run in the score that broke Edinburgh hearts.
It was a tough end to a match where the Scots pack had delivered enough ball to win the game but mistakes when it really mattered gave it all away.
Grenoble: Tries: Heguy (31). Aplon (70, 79). Cons: Wisniewski 2. Pens: Wisniewski (15, 18, 51, 57, 77)
Edinburgh: Tries: Hardie (4), Helu (35). Cons: Hidalgo-Clyne 2. Pen: Hidalgo-Clyne (27, 56, 66)
Grenoble: G Aplon; X Mignot (F Gengenbacher, 68), C Farrell, N Hunt, D Kilioni; J Wisniewski, C McLeod; F Barcella (S Taumalolo, 18), A Heguy, D Edwards, B Hand (C) (J Percival, 30), P Kimlin , H Vanderglas, M Diaby (F Alexandre, 47), R Grice.
Edinburgh: G Tonks; D Hoyland, M Allen, M Scott, W Helu; P Burleigh (D Fife, 71), S Hidalgo-Clyne; A Dickinson (A Dell, 87), R Ford (N Cochrane, 65), WP Nel (S Berghan, 65), A Bresler (A Toolis, 7), B Toolis, M Coman (C), J Hardie (H Watson, 60), C Du Preez.
Referee: G Garner (England)
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