South Africans help Edinburgh see off Cardiff
URC REPORT: Edinburgh kept their play-off hopes alive after a hard-fought 24-7 win at Cardiff.
Cardiff have only won three competitive games all season and they disappointed in their final appearance of the season at the Arms Park as they lost Ellis Jenkins, Harri Millard and Thomas Young to injury.
On the day Cardiff managed only a single try from Rhys Carre which Tinus de Beer converted.
In response, Edinburgh picked up three tries from Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman and Boan Venter with Ben Healy converting all three and adding a penalty.
After a scoreless first 25 minutes, the game sprung into life when Duhan van der Merwe raced onto a well-judged pass from Healy to take Edinburgh into the opposition 22. The wing was hauled down but his forwards maintained the pressure with Schoeman forcing his way over from close range.
Healy converted before Cardiff lost flank Jenkins, who limped off with a leg injury to end his final appearance for the region.
Edinburgh led 7-0 at the interval but two minutes after the restart, they suffered a big blow when Van der Merwe was sin-binned for a high tackle on Theo Cabango.
Cardiff took immediate advantage when Carre burst over from the resulting line-out to score his eighth try of the season and celebrate his final appearance at the Arms Park before departing for Saracens at the end of the season.
The home side lost a second player to injury when Millard, was helped off with a leg injury.
Van der Merwe returned from the sinbin and was immediately called upon to produce a try-saving tackle as he chased back to haul Mason Grady into touch just metres short of the tryline.
Edinburgh regained the lead when Ashman finished off a driving line-out before another try from Venter and a penalty from Healy sealed a deserved victory.
Man of the match: Scottish international flank Jamie Ritchie shone in an impressive back row for the visitors, who won frequent penalties at the breakdown. In addition, Ritchie led the close-range charges which always had Cardiff playing on the back foot.
The scorers:
For Cardiff:
Try: Carre
Con: De Beer
For Edinburgh:
Tries: Schoeman, Ashman, Venter
Cons: Healy 3
Pen: Healy
Yellow card: Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh, 42′ – foul play, high tackle)
Teams:
Cardiff: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Harri Millard, 13 Mason Grady, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Theo Cabango, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Mackenzie Martin, 7 Ellis Jenkins, 6 Alex Mann, 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Ben Donnell, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Liam Belcher (captain), 1 Rhys Carré.
Replacements: 16 Evan Lloyd, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Ciaran Parker, 19 Rory Thornton, 20 Thomas Young, 21 James Botham, 22 Ellis Bevan, 23 Jacob Beetham.
Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 13 Matt Currie, 12 James Lang, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ben Healy, 9 Ali Price, 8 Luke Crosbie, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (captain), 4 Sam Skinner, 3 WP Nel, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Marshall Sykes, 20 Viliame Mata, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Mark Bennett, 23 Chris Dean.
Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Maickel English (Wales) and Elgan Williams (Wales)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)
Main photo: @EdinburghRugby
