Greg Laidlaw's late drop goal ruined Cardiff Blues' return to the Arms Park as Edinburgh ran out 21-19 winners in the RaboDirect Pro12.
The Blues had spent three years plying their trade at the Cardiff City Stadium but sparse crowds saw them cut short their 20-year lease to return to their spiritual home.
It was a move welcomed by supporters and they duly showed their approval by turning up in droves - the crowd of 7,800 was over 2,000 up on their average attendance last season.
On the pitch, the home side initially failed to rise to the occasion, falling behind to a Tim Visser try after the two sides had swapped early penalties.
The metronomic boot of Leigh Halfpenny ensured Blues reached half time with a 9-8 lead but it was not until the second half that the game really caught fire.
Edinburgh nearly retook the lead as Visser chipped through only to run out of pitch as he attempted to ground the ball whilst at the other end Tom James was unlucky to slip as attempted to cut inside following a sensational break out of his own 22.
The home side eventually made the breakthrough after Edinburgh's Greig Tonks had been yellow carded, Alex Cuthbert slipping in underneath the posts and Halfpenny kicking the extras (50).
However, a Blues' yellow card for Josh Navidi allowed the visitors to ratchet up the pressure and they were rewarded with a penalty try on the hour mark.
A further Halfpenny penalty preserved the slenderest of leads for Cardiff and they were within two minutes of victory when Laidlaw struck to give Edinburgh their first win of the season.
The scorers:
For Cardiff Blues:
Try: Cuthbert
Con: Halfpenny
Pens: Halfpenny 4
For Edinburgh:
Tries: Visser, Penalty try
Con: Laidlaw
Pens: Laidlaw 2
Drop: Laidlaw
Cardiff Blues: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Gavin Evans, 12 Dafydd Hewitt, 11 Tom James, 10 Ceri Sweeney, 9 Lewis Jones, 8 Andries Pretorius (capt), 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Josh Navidi, 5 James Down, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Benoit Bourrust, 2 Rhys Williams, 1 Taufa'ao Filise.
Replacements: 16 Marc Breeze, 17 Nathan Trevett, 18 Thomas Davies, 19 Lou Reed, 20 Luke Hamilton, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Thomas Williams.
Edinburgh: 15 Greig Tonks, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 John Houston, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Greig Laidlaw (capt), 9 Richie Rees, 8 Stuart McInally, 7 Roddy Grant, 6 David Denton, 5 Sean Cox, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Andy Titterrell, 17 John Yapp, 18 Willem Nel, 19 Perry Parker, 20 Netani Talei, 21 Chris Leck, 22 Gregor Hunter, 23 Sep Visser.
Referee: David Wilkinson (Ireland)
Comments
Lucasrg says...
yeah pretty good game it was, well deserved Edinburgh, nothing stolen.
Actually there were 2 penalties in their favor into the second half, and all kickable. Ref did well until those two penalties imho. Some really awesome scramble defense by the Blues, pretty entertaining game and some excellent breaks (especially the ones from Tom James) but boy, some terrible mistakes!
All in all a good game to watch and a well earned victory by the Scots.
Posted 00:52 11th September 2012
melkdave says...
Afraid didnt see this game,as it looks like it was a bit of a cracker.Nice to see some potential Lions are inform though so early in the season. ,The more selection headaches for WG the better as far as im concerned lol
Posted 09:53 08th September 2012
scot_rsa says...
He has a habit of doing that. Well done Edinburgh and good to see Visser carrying on his great form.
Posted 07:48 08th September 2012