Edinburgh in pole position, Montpellier up to second
Edinburgh will go into the final two rounds of the Champions Cup as favourites to qualify from Pool 5 after a superb 21-8 victory over Newcastle Falcons.
After securing a bonus-point triumph last week, the Scotsmen made it a double over their English rivals, despite Newcastle putting up more of a fight.
With the majority of their stars back in the XV, it was unsurprisingly an improved performance from the Falcons, but they were hampered by injuries. The game was interspersed by issues to Newcastle players and they had to reorganise after Nemani Nagusa, Glen Young and Johnny Williams were forced to go off.
They initially handled those setbacks well, going 8-3 ahead via Sinoti Sinoti’s brilliant try and Toby Flood’s penalty, but successive Jaco van der Walt three-pointers kept the visitors in contention and Richard Cockerill’s men assumed command following the interval.
It took a while for their forwards to truly get on top and, unlike the previous contest, the PRO14 outfit failed to score the points their control deserved, but Edinburgh were facing a stronger squad and did well to prevent the Premiership club from gaining any traction in the second half.
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Powerful wings Vereniki Goneva and Sinoti returned to the Tynesiders’ side and combined for their try in the opening period, but Cockerill’s charges won the game at the breakdown and in the set-piece.
A week ago, the Falcons did not have a tighthead in the squad due to a plethora of injuries and were promptly demolished in the scrum. On Sunday, they were able to call on Trevor Davison but, although the hosts were slightly more solid, Allan Dell and his forward colleagues eventually earned their reward.
With that platform, James Johnstone and Duhan van der Merwe tries, as well as Van der Walt’s efforts off the tee, took them to a priceless victory and moved them up to 15 points in Pool 5.
In the group’s other match, Montpellier went into second position after a dominant 34-13 triumph over Toulon.
Patrice Collazo’s men had won the reverse fixture but, against a stronger XV, they had little answer to the hosts’ power, who went into the break 15-6 in front via Jan Serfontein and Henry Immelman tries.
The away team’s response came through Mamuka Gorgodze’s score and a pair of Francois Trinh-Duc penalties, but they are now effectively out of Europe after Vincent Giudicelli, Ruan Pienaar and Levan Chilachava crossed the whitewash for Vern Cotter’s outfit in the second period.