Laidlaw puts the boot into Cardiff
Greig Laidlaw inspired Edinburgh to turn the tables on Cardiff Blues and make amends for their defeat in the Welsh capital a week earlier and move back to the top of Pool Two.
The home skipper switched to flyhalf for the return match at Murrayfield and notched 14 points as he helped his team boss the first half to such an extent they took a 16 point lead into the dressing room.
The Blues, who were 25-8 winners at home, couldn’t get their hands on the ball in the opening 40 minutes and were lucky that the home side butchered a number of scoring chances.
While Laidlaw was kicking the points, his backline were prising huge holes in the Blues defence and the only surprise was that only one try fell to flying wing Tim Visser. Laidlaw converted off the touchline and also added three penalties and a drop goal.
“We dug in really well and we are delighted with the win. The forwards gave us a great platform and options. Full credit to the Blues for setting out their stall to leave with nothing less than a bonus point,” said Laidlaw.
Dan Parks, who had scored 20 points with his boot in the first fixture, picked up one penalty in the first half and then cut the deficit as the Blues forwards came more and more into the game after the break.
Xavier Rush led the fightback and two more Parks penalties put the visitors within range of a losing bonus point at least. Then a tiring Edinburgh conceded another penalty 45 metres out and up stepped Leigh Halfpenny to hammer home a massive kick with two minutes left to play.
The Blues settled for that, even though Edinburgh’s superior try count took them back to the top of the pool with both teams locked on 13 points
The scorers:
For Edinburgh:
Try: Visser
Con: Laidlaw
Pens: Laidlaw 3
DG: Laidlaw
For Cardiff:
Pens: Parks 3, Halfpenny
Teams:
Edinburgh: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 James King, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Greig Laidlaw (captain), 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 Steven Lawrie, 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 Jack Gilding, 19 Esteban Lozada, 20 Ross Rennie, 21 Phil Godman, 22 Matt Scott, 23 Tom Brown.
Cardiff: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Gavin Evans, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Chris Czekaj, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Xavier Rush, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Michael Paterson, 5 Paul Tito, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Tau Filise, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Tyrrell, 17 John Yapp, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Josh Navidi, 20 Maama Molitika, 21 Richie Rees, 22 Ceri Sweeney, 23 Dafydd Hewitt.
Referee: Pascal Gauzere
