HOPES that Edinburgh would shrug off their traditional end-of-season malaise this year and give long-suffering supporters some Magners League fizz foundered miserably in what was probably their worst league performance of the season.
The hosts sta
rted and finished this match sluggishly, working hard to create fleeting moments of enterprise and allowing them to evaporate in seconds and there was no real surprise by the time the final whistle blew that they ended point-less for the first time in the league this season. They deserved little more.
Andy Robinson, the Edinburgh coach, admitted: "Today, to be fair, we were lucky to get away with 20 and that is something we have to understand. There was no lack of effort and work from the players, but we were technically off the pace, particularly in our line-speed in defence; we stood off them.
"It was a similar lesson learned from the Leicester game (39-0 defeat]; this is a team in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals and this is the physicality of performance we have to get to, every time we play. There will be a lot of anger from our supporters and we understand that and won't hide away from it. There is a lot of work to be done here, which I said at the first game of the season, and this was a good reminder."
The lack of punch in defence was what Robinson pin-pointed as the key facet of the game, his players being knocked back in defence by a physical Cardiff side and never getting to grips with that. Edinburgh's most enterprising period of the first half came with 15 minutes remaining, by which time they were 10-0 down due to a try by Tom James, Cardiff's left wing, and a conversion and penalty from Ben Blair, the New Zealand-capped full-back.
Where Edinburgh's own errors cost them in the opening minutes, errors by Alan Lewis, the Irish referee, further hampered their bid. A good period of attack had the hosts pressing inside the Cardiff 22, but Lewis allowed Mike Blair, the home scrum-half, to be taken out dubiously at the back of a ruck by Martyn Williams, the Wales flanker giving a passable impression of a one-man wrecking machine to Edinburgh, taking lineout ball, leading the visitors' defence, slowing ruck ball, running the offside line well – well, he was rarely caught – supporting back row breaks well and providing an extra centre. Similarly, Ben Cairns and Nick De Luca were given lessons in back play by Tom Shanklin and Gareth Thomas, the experienced Wales caps, while Jamie Roberts simply battered through woeful defending.
But that call against Blair was crucial as Lewis gave a penalty against Edinburgh, got a lineout call wrong, penalised the hosts again and, from Edinburgh promise, they found themselves three points down from the boot of Mike's namesake Ben, the Cardiff full-back.
But Edinburgh lacked the necessary dynamism and conviction across the pitch long before they could uncover a scoring threat. Roberts had no such worries, taking a pass on the hosts' ten-metre line, rampaging through a Hugo Southwell tackle and leaving Ben Cairns flailing at his back to canter in for a try. Even when Edinburgh did finally win a penalty in the Cardiff half Phil Godman could not convert from 40 metres out and the half-time, and a half-time drilling from coaches Andy Robinson and Rob Moffat could not come quickly enough.
There was, at least, new spark about the hosts once they did sniff the Cardiff 22, Webster notably in the thick of it, but John Houston was held up over the Cardiff line after a quick tap-and-go by Blair and then Dave Callam, the No8, juggled and lost the ball two metres from the try-line after a superb delayed pass from Godman put him into a neat gap. Edinburgh's chances had come and gone in those few minutes.
A kick downfield and turnover gave Cardiff the territory for their clinching third try, 14 minutes into the half, simple running hard and drawing of defenders, and fine acceleration into the line by Ben Blair, set up James for his second try and though Edinburgh toiled to get back on the front foot, they lacked the wit, conviction and skills, in the face of a far superior off-loading game from Cardiff, and had a knock-on to thank for depriving the visitors of another breakaway try.
With the game won, Cardiff took off key players to keep them fit for next week's more important Heineken Cup quarter-final in Toulouse, and still Edinburgh lacked the rhythm and cohesion supporters have come to expect when on the ball. If Robinson felt expectations were rising too high around his team, he need worry no more.
Scorers
Cardiff: Tries – James 2, Roberts; Pen – Blair; Con – Blair.
Edinburgh: H Southwell; S Webster, B Cairns, N De Luca, J Houston; P Godman, M Blair; G Kerr, A Kelly, C Smith, M Mustchin, C Hamilton, S Cross, D Callam, A Hogg (capt).
Subs: A Turnbull for Houston 56mins, A Allori for Kerr 58, C MacRae for De Luca 68, F Pringle for Cross 70, B Meyer for Blair 71.
Cardiff: B Blair; J Roberts, T Shanklin, G Thomas, T James; D Flannigan, J Spice; G Jenkins, G Williams, T Filise, D Jones, P Tito, M Molitika, X Rush, M Williams.
Subs: R Thomas for Williams 24mins, B White for Tito 56, N Robinson for Flannigan 61, for Williams 65, J Yapp for Jenkins, M Stcherbina for Shanklin, both 66, R Rees for Spice 75.
Referee: A Lewis (IRFU). Att: 2,395.
The full article contains 970 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
