Edinburgh 62 Connacht 13:CONNACHT CAME to Murrayfield hoping for a result after a good showing in defeat against the Ospreys last weekend but against a strong Edinburgh side packed with Scotland international players, Connacht were blown apart in a record breaking league win for the Scottish capital side.
Put simply it was experience against inexperience and in the event it was no contest albeit that Edinburgh were helped by poor handling, inefficient defence and weak scrummaging by the visitors.
Yet Connacht looked purposeful early in the game, their brisk start bringing early points as outhalf Ian Keatley struck a penalty goal after missing an earlier attempt in the opening minute.
But from the restart Edinburgh gained possession and aided by slack defence wing Mark Robertson raced through midfield for a try under the posts metronomically converted by Chris Paterson.
A second penalty goal by Keatley narrowed Edinburgh’s lead to one point but almost immediately Paterson restored the four point gap with his first penalty success.
Connacht had a lucky escape when Scotland sevens wing Andrew Turnbull just failed to ground the ball after a foot race and then failed to help their own cause with a second miss at goal by Keatley before committing an offence a the breakdown that allowed Paterson to claim a further three points.
The visitors hit back with a series of good handling moves but a dropped pass gave Edinburgh lock Craig Hamilton the chance to show his footballing skills.
The second row hacked the ball forward to create an all too simple try for centre Ben Cairns, Paterson succeeding with the conversion attempt to send his team into the break with 20-6 advantage.
With a healthy lead Edinburgh began the second half with confident play and quickly added to their points tally with a try and conversion from Paterson after an initial thrust by replacement Ross Ford and a perfectly weighted pass from John Houston.
Connacht’s problems deepened when skipper John Muldoon was binned for holding on in the tackle, allowing Edinburgh to apply further pressure and translated into points when Robertson came off his blindside wing to race through a depleted cover for his second try and his side’s fourth, the infallible Paterson again converting.
The pictured darkened even more when Connacht were reduced to 13 men after replacement Mike McCarthy was shown the yellow card.
The ensuing score from a scrum was inevitable as Edinburgh number eight Ally Hogg picked up from the base of the scrum to stroll through an almost non-existent back row for try number five, dutifully converted by Paterson.
With Connacht in disarray Edinburgh picked their way through a demoralised defence ending with Turnbull laying on the scoring pass to give flanker Alan MacDonald a try in the corner, Paterson showing his real kicking skills with the touchline conversion kick.
The try trail continued with a first contribution from replacement scrum half Mike Blair, his break up the touchline creating space for the lightning quick Turnbull to scorch past the defence for Edinburgh’s seventh try.
Fortunately for the game, Connacht were able to reply with a score from a tap penalty and impressive running from Fionn Carr, the wing slicing through Edinburgh’s backline defence for a try under the posts converted by substitute, Conor O’Loughlin.
EDINBURGH: C Paterson; M Robertson, B Cairns, J Houston (S Jones 56), A Turnbull; P Godman (N De Luca 56), G Laidlaw; A Jacobsen, A Kelly (R Ford 23), G Cross (K Traynor 45), C Hamilton, S MacLeod, A MacDonald, R Grant, A Hogg (S Newlands 60).
CONNACHT: G Duffy; B Tuohy, N Troy, K Matthews, F Carr; I Keatley (N Miah 48), F Murphy (C O’Loughlin 48); R Loughney, S Cronin (A Flavin 52), J Hagan, A Browne, B Upton, J Muldoon, R Ofisa (J O’Connor 48), M McComish (M McCarthy 40).
Referee: J Jones (Wales)
