FIVE tries to one sounds easy enough, but Edinburgh left it desperately late against London Irish before getting their just rewards from a Challenge Cup Pool 4 game they dominated.
Flanker Jamie Ritchie and Luke Crosbie, the 20-year-old back row replacement playing only his second game, both scored in the final two minutes to put a gloss on the result that put Richard Cockerill’s side top of their pool ahead of shock winners Krasny Yar – Edinburgh’s opponents next week – who upset defending champions Stade Francais.
“The score at the end was probably a bit of an unfair reflection, but it was good for us, a good start for us,” said head coach Cockerill. “As we saw in Russia with Stade, the competition throws results up. We are pleased with the performance but we can be better.
“To come away from home and get a better performance ball in hand was important – I was disappointed last week with how we played against Zebre, and I thought we were much better, certainly in the first half – three tries that were all well constructed.
“If we had been a little more accurate and a bit more ambitious at times we could probably have got a little bit more than that.”
Cockerill had predicted a slow start from London Irish and was proved right when the home side allowed his troops almost all the early attacking pressure, and he was delighted that even when the pressure was applied on them, Edinburgh kept their composure.
“We kept ourselves in the game, we defended very well when we needed to and that was pleasing,” he said. “I was pleased with the application of the players and their ambition to play. We can be better but there were nine changes in this team from last week, that is a lot of changes and a lot of guys getting game time. We can look after our squad and be good next week and then go on to Treviso and Ospreys [in the Guinness PRO14].”
In fact, it was the home side that got the first points, a breakout earning a penalty, kicked by fly-half Theo Brophy Clews, but that was about it for London Irish as Edinburgh hunted ways to take advantage of their superiority.
In the end, it was wing Damien Hoyland, recalled after being dropped for the last two weeks, who found a way through, wriggling through a tiny gap created by Jason Tovey’s half break. Tovey added the conversion. It turned out to be the start of a purple patch for the Scots, with a great break from their own 22 taking them deep into opposition territory, where Tovey found centre Junior Rasolea on the outside with men spare outside him.
The Irish did reply with their first meaningful attack of the game, the forwards picking and driving through phase after phase until Ollie Hoskins was driven over, but Brophy Clews missed the easy conversion.
Home sloppiness again worked to Edinburgh’s advantage when a series of missed tackles allowed Rasolea to barge through to the line on a 50-yard solo dash for a try, though it was Irish who had the final word of the half with Brophy Clews adding a late penalty.
He got his third after the break, although he also missed a simple effort, and the game descended into an error-strewn stalemate. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne restored Edinburgh’s margin with a simple shot from in front of the posts, but it was poor from both sides until the final flourish from Edinburgh.
Ritchie’s score was pure muscle as he forced his way over the line in a pile of bodies after a series of picks and drives to secure the bonus point. Crosbie’s try came out wide after he powered his way though flailing tacklers.
“I was so excited to get on and when I got that offload it was a relief to see all that training working out,” he said. “I just kept running, put my head down and the next thing I knew I was in the dead-ball area. I was delighted with it.”
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