Edinburgh 13 Connacht 14
Connacht scored their second success in the Guinness Pro12 after coming from behind to achieve what was in the end a deserved win over Edinburgh at a misty Murrayfield on Friday night.
The match itself lacked the precise rugby that new and immaculate pitch at Scotland international ground invited, both sides while willing to move the ball, were never able to penetrate eachother's defences. Connacht, however, deserve credit for their work in the scrum where Dennis Buckley was outstanding. The other good performances for Connacht came from outside half Jack Carty, centre Dave McSharry and full back Darragh Leader.
It was Edinburgh who opened the scoring with a penalty by outside half Tom Heathcote after Nathan White slipped his bindings in the scrum. Minutes later Heathcote was on target again but most of the rest of the first half belonged to Connacht.
Fullback Leader missed two kicks at goal before achieving two successes in front of the posts to draw his side level, but just before half time Edinburgh made a rare visit into the Connacht 22 and made it count with a try in the corner by number eight Cornell du Pree. Heathcote’s conversion giving the home men a 13-6 interval advantage.
Heathcote had a chance to stretch Edinburgh’s lead but this time missed with his goal kick. Then when replacement prop WP Nel was yellow carded for a scrum offence, Leader kicked his third successive penalty to narrow the gap to four points.
Connacht’s one man advantage was quickly wiped out after backrow Willie Faloon was sent to the bin for stamping at a ruck, but on the now less populated Murrayfield it was the visitors who were using the space more intelligently. But when Edinburgh won a five metre scrum the game was poised to turn decisively only for Du Preez to be centimetres short with his surge off the backrow.
In the ensuing scrum, Connacht’s replacement hooker Seán Henry injured his knee and was forced to leave the field, and requiring Dave Hefferman to re-enter the fray. Edinburgh’s third attempt at a five metre scrum should have brought points but this time Du Preez made a bad judgment and the chance was gone.
With five minutes remaining, Connacht won a penalty and opted for the kick to the corner. The tactic worked as Connacht drove the lineout for Faloon, back on the field, to score a vital try that proved to be the winning points for the Galway outfit.
Edinburgh : J Cuthbert; S Beard, P Burleigh, A Strauss, N McLennan; T Heathcote, S Kennedy; A Dickinson, R Ford, J Andress, F McKenzie, O Atkins, T Leonardi, H Watson, C du Preez Replacements J Hilterbrand for Ford 65, WP Nel for Andress 40 , A Bresler for McKenzie 52, M Coman for Leonardi 60, S Hidalgo-Clyne for Kennedy 52, J Dominguez for Cuthbert 55
Connacht : D Leader; N Adeolokun, R Henshaw, D McSherry, D Poolman; J Carty, K Marmion; D Buckley, D Heffernan, N White, M Kearney, Q Roux, J Muldoon, W Faloon, EMcKeon Replacements S Henry for Heffernan 40, R Ah You for White 72, A Muldowney for Kaerney, G Naoupu for for Muldoon, , C Ronaldson for Leader 70, F Carr for Poolman 54.
Referee G Conway (IRFU)
