IT WAS not the prettiest of games, and the conditions were far from clement, but Edinburgh made the most of them to claim their first win of the season. While Michael Allen and Magnus Bradbury scored the tries, Duncan Weir was the key man, orchestrating his team’s attacks and kicking well from hand to relieve the pressure.
Drifting rain and an awkward wind made some of the first-half play a bit of a lottery, but Weir adapted intelligently to the conditions and used his boot to great effect at times. In a second half which saw only three points scored, Edinburgh were able to absorb a lot of pressure from Scarlets, who have now lost their first two games and appear severely short of confidence.
“It was critically important for us to get a win tonight, and we did, Edinburgh coach Alan Solomons said. “We showed a tremendous amount of character to hold them out in the end.
“We’ve got high standards that we want to attain in defence and we certainly did that tonight. On balance we deserved to win.
“I thought Dunky Weir had a superb game in very difficult conditions. He made the try for Mike Allen then converted from the corner - that sums up his night.”
Rhys Patchell and Weir exchanged penalties in a first quarter that had little else of note about it. Continuity was hard to maintain in such difficult conditions, and there were passages of play in which errors were almost as numerous as passes which went to hand. Then, with quarter of an hour left in the half, Edinburgh went close to claiming the first try of the evening with a sustained drive, and when they were halted illegally Weir dinked over the penalty to put the home team ahead.
A second Patchell penalty soon brought Scarlets level, but in the closing stages of the half Weir created the opening try of the game with a really clever kick towards the right corner. Liam Williams hared across to cover but slipped and failed to gather the ball as it slid towards the goal line, allowing Allen to leap over him and beat Steffan Evans in the race to touch down. The score seemed in doubt for a second or two, and it was not immediately clear that the Edinburgh winger had been in control of the ball when applying downward pressure, but the referee awarded the try and Weir added the conversion.
Just as that looked like being the last significant action of the half, Welsh lock James Ball was yellow-carded for collapsing a maul, and then Scarlets contributed further to their own undoing by gifting Edinburgh a second try. Patchell miskicked a clearance from inside his 22, the ball bounced off an Edinburgh shin, and Bradbury collected. The No 8 still had some work to do, but he succeeded in evading a half-hearted tackle then ran in from the edge of the 22. Weir’s conversion made the half-time score 20-6.
Bradbury was sinbinned in the opening minutes of the second half for a tip tackle on Scarlets lock David Bulbring, meaning both sides were reduced to 14 men for a time before Ball returned to the action. Thanks in part to the drier conditions, Edinburgh were able to run the clock down confidently, and did not concede while Bradbury was off.
Their lead was cut by three, however, when Phil Burleigh was yellow-carded for a professional foul and Patchell knocked over the penalty. Again, however, the Edinburgh defence stood firm, holding out impressively after Scarlets had kicked a penalty to touch and tried to score with a rolling maul from the lineout.
A try at that point for the visitors would have thrown the outcome back in doubt, but Edinburgh continued to handle the Scarlets’ attacks resolutely. With minutes left, Allen was penalised after holding Evans up on the line with a tackle that became high, but again Scarlets failed to turn good position into points.
Scorers:
Edinburgh: Tries: Allen, Bradbury. Cons: Weir 2. Pens: Weir 2.
Scarlets: Pens: Patchell 3.
Edinburgh: G Bryce; M Allen (S Hidalgo-Clyne 78), S Tofilau (J Rasolea 54), P Burleigh, T Brown; D Weir, N Fowles; R Sutherland (A Dell 64), R Ford (S McInally 58), W Nel, B Toolis (F McKenzie 71), G Gilchrist, J Ritchie, J Hardie (H Watson 51), M Bradbury. Subs not used: K Bryce, B Kinghorn.
Scarlets: L Williams; H Parkes, Jonathan Davies, S Williams (G Davies 48), S Evans; R Patchell, A Davies (A Thomas 67); W Jones (L Garrett 78), K Owens (R Elias 78), W Kruger (P Edwards 68), J Ball, D Bulbring, A Shingler (T Beirne 71), James Davies, J Barclay. Subs not used: J Macleod, D Jones.
Referee: A Brace (Ireland). Attendance: 2650.
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