Schoeman helps Edinburgh fight back against Cardiff

MATCH REPORT: Edinburgh claimed a second victory of the season in the United Rugby Championship as they got the better of a hard-fought contest with Cardiff 27-8.

The Welsh side were 5-3 up at the break, but the power of forward replacements such as Pierre Schoeman and Hamish Watson ground them down in the second 40 as the home team emerged with a try bonus.

The visitors shaded a first half which saw Edinburgh captain Grant Gilchrist and then Cardiff flank Thomas Young sin-binned, for head contact in a tackle and killing the ball respectively.

Edinburgh opened their account through Ross Thompson, who made no mistake with the penalty they were awarded.

Midway through the first half, the home team were awarded another penalty in front of the posts and this time opted for a scrum, but a knock-on let Cardiff off the hook.

Cardiff were off the mark after half an hour when Young finished off in the left corner from a Rory Jennings pass after a penalty had been sent to touch. Callum Sheedy failed with his conversion attempt.

With Gilchrist then sent off the field and Edinburgh down to 14 men, Cardiff thought they had made their pressure tell when Young grounded.

However, the score was disallowed for offside against the forward, who was himself yellow-carded just as Gilchrist returned.

Edinburgh ran the penalty and thought they had regained the lead when Duhan van der Merwe touched down in the left corner, but that score was also chalked off, for a forward pass, and the half came to an end with Cardiff still 5-3 up.

Edinburgh dominated the early part of the second half and went back in front when Van der Merwe dived acrobatically to score in the corner despite the attentions of Cardiff fullback Cam Winnet.

Thompson converted to make it 10-5, but a penalty by Sheedy soon narrowed the gap back to two points.

As the game entered its final quarter, Edinburgh stretched their lead when substitute Schoeman finished off with a powerful run off the back of a line-out maul. The conversion attempt missed.

Then Edinburgh added another try when Graham dotted down from a Price pass after a break by Watson. Thompson again failed to add the extras.

Josh McNally was yellow-carded as Cardiff’s defence was stretched and, after Ben Muncaster had put a foot into touch just before grounding, an overthrow at the line-out was seized on by Ewan Ashman through for the bonus-point score. Thompson’s conversion completed the scoring.

The scorers:

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Van der Merwe, Schoeman, Graham, Ashman
Cons: Thompson 2
Pen: Thompson

For Cardiff:
Try: Young
Pen: Sheedy

Yellow cards: Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh, 30′); Thomas Young (Cardiff, 39′); Josh McNally (Cardiff, 71′)

Teams:

Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Matt Currie, 12 Mosese Tuipulotu, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ali Price, 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Ben Muncaster, 6 Luke Crosbie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (captain), 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 D’Arcy Rae, 2 Paddy Harrison, 1 Boan Venter.
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Jamie Hodgson, 20 Hamish Watson, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Cammy Scott, 23 Matt Scott.

Cardiff: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Gabriel Hamer-Webb, 13 Mason Grady, 12 Rory Jennings, 11 Iwan Stephens, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Alun Lawrence, 7 Thomas Young, 6 James Botham, 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Rhys Litterick, 2 Dafydd Hughes, 1 Ed Byrne.
Replacements: 16 Evan Lloyd, 17 Danny Southworth, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Rory Thornton, 19 Alex Mann, 20 Mackenzie Martin, 21 Johan Mulder, 22 Ben Thomas.

Referee: Morné Ferreira (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Fin Brown (Scotland), Michael Todd (Scotland)
TMO: Griffin Colby (South Africa)