EDINBURGH’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions Cup were dealt a debilitating blow as they came up just short against Scarlets.

Richard Cockerill’s side played some of their most entertaining rugby of the campaign at points, especially in a madcap first half, but they also found time to showcase some of their most persistent failings, such as the tendency to make errors at crucial times.

As a result, they came out of the game with no more than a losing bonus point, an outcome that all but officially extinguishes their chances of a top-three finish in PRO14 Conference B. They are now 14 points behind third-placed Scarlets, with two matches in hand. Even if Edinburgh win all four of their remaining games with bonus points, Scarlets will finish above them if they take six points from the two they have left. 

Only the leading three in each conference are guaranteed a Champions Cup berth next season, and with Cardiff also in the mix for the last place behind Munster and Connacht, a mathematical miracle would be needed for Edinburgh to clamber above both Welsh teams. “I think it’s going to be tough for us from here on in,” Cockerill accepted with a degree of understatement. 

“We fell a little bit short. It finished three tries apiece, so it’s a game we could have won, but a bit of luck and fortune wasn’t on our side.”

Given the try count was level, the difference could be said to come down to the kickers. Scarlets stand-off Dan Jones scored two penalties and three conversions: Jaco van der Walt scored two and two. 

But while the Edinburgh 10 missed a long-range penalty in addition to his failure to convert David Cherry’s second-half try, it would be too simplistic to say that the result was determined by the boot. Scarlets were more efficient in attack than Edinburgh, particularly in the first half. And, after they had put an early spell of indiscipline behind them, they were tighter in defence too, as they showed above all in the long final passage of play which saw Edinburgh try - and fail - to manoeuvre a position for Van der Walt to attempt what would have been a winning goal.  

“Europe is going to be the focus now, I suppose,” Cockerill added, referring to the fact that his team are in the last 16 of this season’s Champions Cup, the draw for which takes place next week. “But we’ll try as hard as we can to get as many points as we can.”

Edinburgh’s first-half tries came from Magnus Bradbury and Darcy Graham, and with Van der Walt converting both and adding two penalties, they went in at the break 20-17 ahead. But Scarlets, whose first-half scores had come from converted tries by Tyler Morgan and Johnny McNicholl and a Jones penalty, took control early in the second 40. Dane Blacker got their third try, and Jones converted and added a penalty to make it 20-27. There was still more than a quarter of the game to play when Cherry’s unconverted try from a maul made it a two-point game, but Van der Walt’s long-range kick was almost the only opening that a determined visiting defence allowed an increasingly fatigued home side. 

Yet while it was a frustrating afternoon for Edinburgh, it was also a hugely entertaining match, thanks in part to the clement conditions, which felt more like summer than late winter. Graham was a threat with nearly every possession, Van der Walt did a lot of useful attacking with ball in hand, and Damien Hoyland also showed up well in offence.

Not much has gone right for Edinburgh this season, and the team still looks like less than the sum of its parts. But while this game may have killed off their hopes of Champions Cup rugby next season, it also rekindled an optimistic feeling that on their day, if they can piece the disparate elements of their game together correctly, they can be a pretty effective team.

Scorers: Edinburgh: Tries: Bradbury, Graham, Cherry. Cons: Van der Walt 2. Pens: Van der Walt 2.

Scarlets: Tries: Morgan, McNicholl, Blacker. Cons: D Jones 3. Pens: D Jones 2.

Edinburgh: D Hoyland; D Graham, J Johnstone, G Taylor (C Dean 72), E Sau; J van der Walt, N Groom (C Shiel 51); P Schoeman (captain), M Willemse (D Cherry 51), L Atalifo (M McCallum 67), M Bradbury (A Ferreira 78), G Gilchrist, N Haining (L Crosbie 23-33), A Miller, V Mata (L Crosbie 61). Unused substitutes: B Venter, N Chamberlain.

Scarlets: J McNicholl; T Prydie, T Morgan, S Hughes (captain) (P Asquith 58), S Evans; D Jones (A O’Brien 67), D Blacker; P Price (K Mathias 69), Marc Jones (T Davies 69), P Scholtz (A Jeffries 69), Morgan Jones (T Ratuva 15-24, 43), S Lousi, U Cassiem (E Kennedy 67), J Morgan, S Kalamafoni. Unused substitute: W Homer.

Referee: B Blain (Scotland).