Cardiff Rugby left Edinburgh Rugby empty-handed despite showing an abundance of fight in a thrilling 27-08 loss in the United Rugby Championship.
In a low-scoring but action-packed first half at the Hive Stadium, Cardiff had plenty of opportunities and entered the break leading by two thanks to Thomas Young’s uncovered try,
But with a tide of penalties flowing against them following the break, and Edinburgh’s unrelenting physicality, the pressure eventually told.
Edinburgh crossed through a trio of Scotland internationals in Duhan van der Merwe, Pierre Schoemann and Darcy Graham before a miss-firing line out, reduced a man, gave Edinburgh a bonus-point try in the closing stages, through hooker Ewan Ashman and earn a 20-8 victory.
Cardiff took the lead in the 28th minute with both the forwards and backs playing their part in a fine team try. After turning down a shot at goal, Cardiff launched an intricate trick play at the line out, which saw the point of attack change twice to allow Mason Grady to hit the ball at pace.
He tore into the Edinburgh midfield, powering through two defenders and the damage was done. When he was eventually stopped the ball was quickly recycled and Rory Jennings fired a fine miss-pass to Young, who crossed in the corner to lead 05-03 going into the second half.
With marginal decisions going Edinburgh’s way at an increasing frequency, they piled on the pressure once more.
It eventually told as Duhan van der Merwe finished acrobatically in the corner, despite the best efforts of Cam Winnett, and Thompson added the extras to make it 10-5.
Cardiff's Callum Sheedy did however soon slot a penalty to cut the deficit to just two points but with Edinburgh continuing to benefit from calls and Cardiff errors, they were soon back on the attack.
Pierre Schoemann powered over from close-range and minutes later Darcy Graham finished a fine team effort to stun the visitors.
Cardiff remained on the wrong side of Morne Ferreira, who sent Josh McNally to the sin-bin on 71 minutes after the second row initiated a maul early.
However, Cardiff continued to fight, displaying dogged defence which continued to thwart Edinburgh. The home side thought they had scored in the corner in the final minutes but it was ruled out by the TMO after a last-ditch tackle from Iwan Stephens.
Edinburgh would claim their bonus point however, when the overthrown lineout was collected by Ewan Ashman who dotted down.
Scorers:
Edinburgh Rugby: Tries: Duhan van der Merwe, Pierre Schoeman, Darcy Graham, Ewan Ashman. Conversions: Ross Thompson (2). Penalty: Ross Thompson.
Cardiff Rugby: Try: Thomas Young. Penalty: Callum Sheedy.
Teams
Edinburgh Rugby: 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 (c), 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 Rugby: 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.
