Full-house for last gasp Edinburgh
A dramatic 78th minute try from flying wing Lee Jones bagged Edinburgh a 34-11 win over London Irish and their first home Heineken Cup quarterfinal.
It was the home side’s fourth try and clinched the bonus point they needed to stay ahead of Cardiff Blues and win Pool Two by a point. The drama of the Heineken Cup remained right to the end as no sooner had Jones scored and skipper Greig Laidlaw converted than Blues scrumhalf Richie Rees dived for the line.
While the record Heineken Cup gate of 10,892 were still celebrating in the Scottish capital, they were holding their breath in Cardiff as the TMO was called into action. He ruled no try and the Blues had to make do with a 36-39 win over racing Metro 92 and four points.
It means Edinburgh will host four times champions Toulouse at Murrayfield, the team that knocked them out in their last quarterfinal appearance, in April. The Blues also made it through to the last eight and will travel to Dublin to face reigning champions Leinster.
Edinburgh had to shuffle their line-up before kick-off as they lost both fullback Chris Paterson (groin) and flank David Denton (hamstring) from their selected line-up. But the changes didn’t alter the equation – Edinburgh needed a draw or win to reach the quarterfinals.
Irish took the lead through an early Adrian Jarvis penalty, but Edinburgh’s try machine, Tim Visser, steadied everyone’s nerves when he crossed for his 14th try of the season in the 12th minute as he raced onto an inch perfect grub kick from Greig Laidlaw.
The home skipper was his usual inventive self at flyhalf and his reliable boot added the conversion and two more penalties before the break. He also added the extras to another superb try from Paterson’s replacement at full back Jim Thompson that came after the forwards had made the hard yards through 18 phases.
That score in the 36th minute stretched the Edinburgh lead to 14 points and gave them a handy half-time lead. There was no more scoring for 25 minutes in the second half and the home defensive line was called on to stand firm.
But then replacement centre Jonathan Joseph broke the deadlock with a try for the visitors before a final rally saw outstanding No.8 Netani Talai power over and Jones add the icing on top of the cake.
Laidlaw converted both to end with another 100 percent record with 14 points.
The scorers:
For Edinburgh:
Tries: Visser, Thompson, Talei, Jones
Cons: Laidlaw 4
Pens: Laidlaw 2
For London Irish:
Try: Joseph,
Pens: Jarvis
The teams:
Edinburgh: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Greig Laidlaw, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Netani Talei, 7 Roddy Grant, 6 David Denton, 5 Sean Cox, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Alun Walker, 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 Jack Gilding, 19 Esteban Lozada, 20 Stuart McInally, 21 Phil Godman, 22 John Houston, 23 Tom Brown.
London Irish: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Jonathan Spratt, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Adam Thompstone, 10 Adrian Jarvis, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Alex Gray, 7 David Sisi, 6 Matthew Garvey, 5 Bob Casey, 4 James Sandford, 3 Leo Halavatau, 2 James Buckland, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Brian Blaney, 17 Max Lahiff, 18 Faan Rautenbach, 19 Nick Kennedy, 20 Bryn Evans, 21 Jonathan Joseph, 22 Steven Shingler, 23 Ross Samson.
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
