Edinburgh go top of the URC table for first time in 12 years

Edinburgh reaped the rewards of giving their backs licence to play by going top of the United Rugby Championship.

Mike Blair’s excellent start to life as a head coach continued as a 34-10 victory over Cardiff moved Edinburgh above Leinster, who did not play over the weekend.

It is the first time Edinburgh have gone top of a combined table since they won the first three games of the 2009-10 Celtic League season.

A Rugby Player’s Christmas and England’s Lewis Ludlam | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 15

A Rugby Player’s Christmas and England’s Lewis Ludlam | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 15

The bonus point was sealed in the opening half when each of Blair’s wingers and centres crossed.

James Lang got his first try for Edinburgh and fellow centre Mark Bennett notched his second try of the game in the second half. Wingers Ramiro Moyano and Emiliano Boffelli both crossed and delivered some virtuoso moments.

“We are trying to develop within our attack the ability to play in a number of different ways,” Blair told BBC Radio Scotland.

“We don’t want to strait-jacket them to just play in a particular way, to just play blindside or just play wide. We are trying to give them the opportunity to play heads-up rugby and make decisions on the back of it.”

The win was built on solid defending though with loose forward Magnus Bradbury winning the player of the match award, and Blair stressed there was also plenty of preparation behind the performance.

“There were some real stand-out performances and a lot of that is hard work – the hard work the forwards are doing to generate that quick ball but also the work the guys are doing in training,” he said.

“There were scenarios within that game that were straight off the training pitch.”