Ireland’s ‘fourth’ team, Connacht, turned up in Edinburgh yesterday evening to take on a home side who seem to be missing their International players more than most.
Straight from the off, the Irishmen went into the attack and had Edinburgh pinned back in their 22. They were rewarded with a penalty after a few minutes, which was missed. It was not until the 34th minute of play that eventual Man-of-the-Match, Greg Laidlaw, opened the scoring with a penalty kick, followed shortly by another, to send Edinburgh into the interval 6-0 ahead.
Neither side had looked much like scoring a try in the first half, with both teams appearing to be looking to ‘not lose’ rather than going all out for the win.
Another fairly ordinary half, only lightened by some incisive running by wing, Lee Jones (pictured), saw the score taken to 12-9, by more penalties, in favour of the hosts, when a kick rebound off David Denton was hacked in behind the Irish defence by substitute, Gregor Hunter, who ran through to collect the ball and slide the last 5 metres over for the opening try.
With Laidlaw converting, the score now stood at 19-9 to Edinburgh. Connacht were not for giving up, though, and after a sustained assault on the Scots line, one of their substitutes (also 22), Niall O’Connor scored a well worked try to take the visitors to within 5 points. Edinburgh 19, Connacht 14.
And that was how it finished. Not a particularly inspiring match for the rather sparse crowd to enjoy, with most of the better play coming from Connacht. If Edinburgh are to attract bigger audiences, then they are going to have to play better than this. Much better…
RaboDirect PRO12 Table.
Played W D L Points
3. Connacht 3 2 0 1 8
4. Munster 2 2 0 0 8
5. Ospreys 2 2 0 0 8
6. Edinburgh 3 1 0 2 5
Report and Photo – John Preece
Web – http://www.photoboxgallery.com/jlp-photography
