Edinburgh win entertaining clash brimming with open rugby
Edinburgh beat Dragons 20-7 in a Guinness PRO14 contest brimming with open rugby. The hosts were the more clinical of the two sides, although they had to show plenty of character after allowing the visitors back into the contest midway through the second half.
Dragons contributed to their own downfall with a string of errors at key moments, and ultimately paid the price for failing to capitalise on lengthy spells in the ascendancy.
Blair Kinghorn and Duhan van der Merwe bagged a try apiece for Edinburgh, while Simon Hickey converted both and two penalties. Adam Warren touched down for the visitors and Sam Davies added the conversion.
Dragons had missed an early penalty attempt before Edinburgh’s first incursion into the opposition 22 yielded a similar award. The hosts spurned the kick at goal and looked to have driven over from the ensuing line-out but the referee called play back for a knock-on.
The home side continued to press and with 14 minutes on the clock, Kinghorn kicked a penalty into touch. Ben Toolis secured the throw and the ball was swept along the line to Kinghorn, who darted between two defenders to dot down. Hickey added the extras.
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Dragons had another tilt at the home defence when Taine Basham raced into space and when he was tackled, the recycled ball was lost in contact, allowing Edinburgh further respite.
With the momentum in their favour, Davies passed up another scoring opportunity when he struck a post with a penalty attempt. And the Edinburgh defence held firm in the face of a further onslaught, which ended with a Jordan Williams knock-on.
Dragons’ failure to open their account was largely down to a mounting error count, and skipper Rhodri Williams then kicked straight into touch from close to the halfway line.
Scottish Rugby have ample time to plot for Dave Rennie leaving Glasgow… @JLyall93 sifts through a large list of innovators they should be sounding out in the next few monthshttps://t.co/u9BAKSP4JC
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 8, 2019
That returned the initiative to Edinburgh and the resulting attack earned a series of penalties within striking distance of the Dragons’ line. The last of those came as the clock ticked into the red, prompting Hickey to go for the posts and take the home tally into double figures at the break.
The visitors had an escape as Edinburgh restarted briskly and Matt Scott looked to have hurtled over for a try. However, the final pass had gone forward. Then, as Dragons sought to profit from that good fortune, Jordan Williams broke from deep and kicked ahead. He was brought down illegally by Toolis, whose offence earned him 10 minutes in the sin-bin.
The SRU have been very naughty boys. https://t.co/vxgSUvM8hz
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 7, 2019
The personnel numbers were evened up shortly afterwards when Huw Taylor was despatched for 10 minutes for killing the ball just short of the line. Hickey nudged Edinburgh further ahead with a successful kick.
Dragons hauled their way back into the game after 58 minutes with a well-executed try from a scrum in the home 22. Rhodri Williams fed Davies, who sent Warren clear before slotting the conversion.
Within a couple of minutes, the hosts had regained control when the ball was transferred slickly through six pairs of hands to van der Merwe, who raced in at the corner. Hickey hammered over the touchline conversion to complete the scoring.
– Press Association
WATCH: Scottish Rugby fined and told to write ‘meaningful apology’ by World Rugby
Comments on RugbyPass
The shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to comments