1
Edinburgh beat Bulls but pay price with injury to Scotland star
By PA
Edinburgh held on against a late Bulls rally to pick up their second win of the United Rugby Championship at the DAM Health Stadium, winning 17-10.
It was a grim tussle but both teams showed plenty of character to make it a compelling contest.
Edinburgh snatched a seventh-minute lead when the first slick passage of play in the match led to Damien Hoyland setting up a Henry Immelman try with a well-weighted grubber.
The Bulls pulled three points back when Chris Smith bisected the posts after Stuart McInally was penalised for holding onto the ball on the deck.
Jaco Van Der Walt had missed the tricky conversion of Immelman’s early try, but he was on the money with three penalties in quick succession to make it 14-3 to the hosts at the break.
However, the Edinburgh number 10 then picked up a painful-looking shoulder injury whilst making a tackle during the last play of the first half and had to be replaced by James Johnstone, with James Lang moving inwards from centre to the stand-off slot.
Edinburgh twice had the Bulls in bother early in the second period, first after a searching kick from Mark Bennett, and then after a scything break from Johnstone, but could not make it count on the scoreboard.
A powerful Edinburgh scrum, immediately after the introduction of WP Nel at tight-head prop, earned a penalty for the home side, but Lang hit the post with his shot at goal.
With 10 minutes to go, Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee muscled in for the try, and Morne Steyn’s conversion made it 14-10, which was just a bit too close for comfort for the hosts.
But they showed good composure to get back in the strike zone and then earn a ruck penalty.
With Lang now off injured as well, Bennett stepped forward to take the shot at goal and made no mistake.
It looked like Madosh Tambwe had scored a try which would have set up a conversion to square it with five minutes to play, but referee Ben Whitehouse chalked it off for a double movement after a trip to the TMO.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Stuart Hogg addresses rumours of rugby return
3
Nigel Owens has final say on URC's most controversial game
4
Black Ferns Sevens coach provides update on injured duo
5
Latest Comments
Excellent analysis Nick as we have come to expect. I was not really aware that NFL strategies have been adopted by rugby teams, especially in defence. One point I would make is that the Northhampton attacking player on the end of the chain in the video examples has not maintained the correct depth to be effective. In the footage shown the outside player is too flat to make the best of the opportunity his inside players have provided. In each case they have to reduce speed and turn their body backwards to secure the ball, losing all momentum and giving the impressive scrambling defence the chance to shut down the threat.
Go to commentsMorning, John. Do you think that it may be a good idea to rest both teams from the Madrid comp leading in to the Olympics
Go to comments