A 66th minute penalty from Rhys Patchell handed Cardiff Blues a 17-16 victory over Edinburgh at Murrayfield on Friday.
The result hung in the balance right to the final whistle as the hosts sought to overturn a single-point deficit, but ultimately they were unable to convert pressure into points and repeat the win they had posted in the reverse fixture earlier in the campaign.
The visitors owed their victory to an impressive man-of-the-match performance from Patchell, who created a try for Michael Paterson and was on the mark with four penalties.
The hosts bagged a try through Willem Nel, converted by Gregor Hunter, who also booted two penalties, while his replacement Harry Leonard slotted one.
Patchell struck the opening points of the match after five minutes when he stroked over a close-range penalty following an offence at a scrum. And he doubled Cardiff's lead with a second strike from a similar distance in 13 minutes.
Edinburgh created the best try-scoring opportunity of the first quarter but a wayward pass by Dave Denton missed out his supporting colleagues and the ball trundled into touch.
Hunter, who had missed with two earlier efforts from long distance, found the target at the third time of asking to trim the deficit, but Patchell responded immediately in kind to restore a six-point gap. And the kicking battle continued with Hunter again wide of the mark before landing his next effort.
Patchell showed that there is more to his game than a trusty boot when he evaded two Edinburgh defenders as he drifted into the home 22 then offloaded to Paterson who plunged over at the corner for an unconverted try that sent the Welsh side in at the break with a 14-6 advantage.
The home team made a lively start to the second period and deservedly grabbed a try in the 49th minute when Dougie Fife carried the ball into contact where Nel was on hand to pick up and force his way over. Hunter converted before making way for Leonard whose first task was to kick the penalty that edged Edinburgh into the lead for the first time.
Cardiff's response was a slick handling move that yielded a penalty which Patchell booted to move the visitors in front once more.
Edinburgh mounted a series of attacks but a string of errors in sight of the line proved expensive and the fatal blow came when Cardiff stole a lineout on the edge of their own 22 in what proved to be the final play of the game.
The scorers:
For Edinburgh:
Try: Nel
Con: Hunter
Pens: Hunter 2, Leonard
For Cardiff Blues:
Try: Paterson
Pens: Patchell 4
The teams:
Edinburgh: 15 Greig Tonks, 14 Dougie Fife, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Ben Atiga, 11 Lee Jones, 10 Gregor Hunter, 9 Richie Rees, 8 Netani Talei, 7 Stuart McInally, 6 David Denton, 5 Izak van der Westhuizen, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Steven Lawrie (c), 1 John Yapp.
Replacements: 16 Andy Titterrell, 17 Allan Jacobsen, 18 Willem Nel, 19 Sean Cox, 20 Hamish Watson, 21 Chris Leck, 22 Harry Leonard, 23 Tom Brown
Cardiff Blues: 15 Jason Tovey, 14 Owen Williams, 13 Richard Smith, 12 Gavin Evans (c), 11 Harry Robinson, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Lewis Jones, 8 Robin Copeland, 7 Thomas Young, 6 Josh Navidi, 5 James Down, 4 Michael Paterson, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 Marc Breeze, 1 Taufa'ao Filise.
Replacements: 16 Kristian Dacey, 17 Sam Hobbs, 18 Benoit Bourrust, 19 Lou Reed, 20 Andries Pretorius, 21 Alex Walker, 22 Gareth Davies, 23 Chris Czekaj.
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: David Changleng (Scotland), Bob Nevins (Scotland)
TMO: Jim Yuille (Scotland)
Comments
scot_rsa says...
About the only good thing is that Hunter and Leonard got more game time. Looking at the teamsheet Edinburgh should have panned Cardiff. Just shows the lack of cohesion.
Posted 22:57 15th February 2013