Connacht fell to their first defeat in this season’s RaboDirect PRO12 as the province’s former head coach Michael Bradley got off the mark with Scottish side Edinburgh.
Edinburgh’s first competitive win under Michael Bradley had much to do with the assured place-kicking of Greig Laidlaw, who continued his top-scoring form with 14 points.
He converted a try from replacement Gregor Hunter with 12 minutes remaining to effectively seal the home win, however Connacht, as they did against the Scarlets, finished strongly and a Niall O’Connor try earned them a losing bonus point.
The visitors, on the back of two opening victories, got off to a flying start. They won a lineout 10 metres out from the Edinburgh line.
The resulting pressure, along with a charge down from Mike McCarthy, gave Connacht valuable territory and possession but the concession of three early penalties allowed Edinburgh clear their lines.
Frank Murphy then made the most of turnover ball inside the Connacht 22, showing great pace before offloading to Tiernan O’Halloran who was dragged into touch by Tim Visser five metres short of the try-line.
Eric Elwood’s charges kept the pressure on and after 10 minutes Matthew Jarvis stood up to take the first kick at goal of the night. The former Osprey’s kick looked on target but it fell short and the game remained scorelss.
Further breaks from Tiernan and captain Gavin Duffy, coupled with some big hits from recent Ireland debutant McCarthy, Ethienne Reynecke and Jarvis, kept Connacht in the Edinburgh half. After 25 minutes, Jarvis missed a second attempt on goal.
His kick drifted just right of the posts, before Edinburgh captain Laidlaw’s attempt at the other end lacked the required distance.
With six minutes to go before the interval, Laidlaw opened the scoring with a well-struck penalty from just inside the Connacht half.
The westerners lost further ground after Duffy was shown a yellow card, with a penalty count of nine to three against them beginning to hurt them. With barely a minute left on the clock, Laidlaw increased Edinburgh’s advantage to 6-0.
The second half started brightly for Connacht, Jarvis landing an early penalty to reduce the deficit back to just three points.
Yet, Connacht struggled with referee Alan Falzone’s interpretation at the breakdown and Laidlaw coolly slotted another penalty goal for the home side.
A sustained Connacht attack forced Edinburgh to cough up a penalty for hands in the ruck and Jarvis duly split the posts for a 9-6 scoreline.
Laidlaw responded with his fourth successful kick of the night, with Connacht again falling foul of Falzone’s whistle. O’Connor, who came on to replace Jarvis, was quickly into the action and sent over a penalty to keep the province right in the hunt at 12-9.
With the players tiring slightly in what was an absorbing battle, Lee Jones darted away on the left wing and almost unlocked the Connacht defence. It took a brilliant cover tackle from the impressive O’Halloran to bring him down.
The final quarter of the game saw the introduction of Paul O’Donohoe, Brett Wilkinson, Dylan Rogers and Adrian Flavin as the Connacht defence stood firm and kept a series of Edinburgh attacks at bay.
There were some telling tackles from the likes of Michael Swift, who was winning his 200th Connacht cap, Eoin Griffin, John Muldoon and Ray Ofisa.
Cruelly, that good work was undone when a grubber kick from O’Connor deflected off an Edinburgh and the alert Hunter hacked the ball on and the foot race to touch down for the first try of the game. Laidlaw converted to suddenly put 10 points between the sides.
Time was running out on Elwood’s men but they calmly worked their way back into scoring range. Replacement prop Wilkinson made a barnstorming break up the middle of the pitch, and Muldoon and company were quick to recycle.
The resulting quick ball and a deft loop put O’Connor sniping over for his first Connacht try. He missed the difficult touchline conversion but a stolen lineout gave Connacht the initiative again.
They were closing in on Edinburgh territory as the minutes ticked by, with an assistant referee intervening for a late tackle on Brian Tuohy.
Attacking in the Scots’ 22, a stray pass and a hack ahead unfortunately drove Connacht back into their own half and Edinburgh were able to close out their first win of the league campaign.
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