Edinburgh made history at Murrayfield yesterday by becoming the first Scottish team to win a Heineken Cup pool after a Lee Jones try four minutes from time brought them a crucial bonus point.
The situation was not completely clear when the winger, who joins a senior Scotland squad for the first time at St Andrews today, registered that fourth touchdown, but minutes later the celebrations intensified when it emerged that Cardiff Blues had failed to match that bonus-point win.
It was a well-earned reward for a Pool 2 campaign that had seen Edinburgh at different stages show ambition and invention, as well as resolve and nous and yesterday's match required all of those qualities in equal measure.
The pressure had been piled on by Biarritz's five-try romp against the Ospreys which meant that by the time the match kicked-off they had been edged out of the eighth qualifying position that they had previously been holding.
Nor was their cause helped by the late withdrawals of Chris Paterson, who has had a persistent groin problem and Dave Denton with a hamstring injury, a day after Nick De Luca, their fellow internationalist, had been ruled out because he had failed to recover fully from concussion suffered in Paris a week earlier.
Michael Bradley, their head coach, admitted to having been stunned at realising just half an hour before kick-off that he would have to replace Paterson and Denton and his weakened side knew they almost certainly had to win the match since the only other way of qualifying would be to score six tries while losing.
After a lively start as they sought to find their rhythm, urged on by a samba band and a Scottish record Heineken Cup crowd of 10,892, they fell behind to an Adrian Jarvis penalty. Thereafter, however, Edinburgh largely controlled the opening half.
Their first points came in 11 minutes when, with the crowd becoming frustrated by the London Irish defensive line persistently straying offside, Greig Laidlaw cleverly turned the visitors' anxiety to get beyond the gain-line against them by chipping the ball in behind them. Arch poacher Tim Visser had got over from his left wing to join that attack down the right and he was first to the ball as it crossed the line.
The impact of his score was maximised when Laidlaw, who was to strike a perfect six from six shots at goal on the day, knocked over the conversion from the touchline and midway through the half he knocked over a much more straightforward penalty opportunity.
He and Jarvis then exchanged further penalties before Edinburgh took full control with their second try.
Ross Ford and Geoff Cross played major roles in the initial attack that took them deep into opposition territory, front-row colleague Allan Jacobsen was then prominent as they drove repeatedly at the London Irish line.
Slowly but surely defenders were sucked in until Jim Thompson, who had replaced Paterson, was screaming at the forwards to release a back line that had a three-man overlap and when they did it was the full-back who was the beneficiary as Laidlaw hurled out a pass which bounced into his path.
With Racing Metro having edged ahead of Cardiff with a penalty at the end of the first half, Edinburgh were provisionally in top spot in the group, but their determination to hang on to that place was tested by the English team in the third quarter.
London Irish had the ball almost throughout that period, twice turning down kickable penalties as they went after the try that would bring them back into the game, but that only two indiscretions were identified by the officials during such an intense examination of the home defence bore testimony to their discipline.
In particular, the way they came through an eight-minute goal-line stand was a real statement and when relief eventually came they again showed far superior creativity to the team from the turgid English Premiership with a blistering attack which ended with Visser going over in the right corner again, only to be brought back for a forward pass.
Just as it seemed the tide had turned, London Irish found a way through with Jonathan Joseph producing their only try with a burst of pace down the right, then a chip through which was gathered by Adam Thompstone, who then delivered a neat pass to the replacement centre to send him in.
However, Edinburgh still had a two-score cushion after Jarvis pushed his conversion attempt wide and they sealed the win when, following a lineout deep in the 22, they set up a string of rucks before the ball was fired wide to man-of-the-match Netani Talie who plunged in on the right.
That left them chasing the bonus point and the chance to secure it looked to have been created when John Houston broke away, only to send what should have been the scoring pass behind Jones.
Undeterred they kept looking for a way through and they were presented with another opportunity when London Irish bungled an attempt to break out of their 22 by knocking the ball on.
From the resultant scrum Talei powered forward and after one rapid recycle the ball was flung to Jones who dived into the corner and score with what was confirmed as the crucial score that brings four- time champions Toulouse back to Murrayfield.
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