Edinburgh beat Scarlets but Glasgow fall to defeat

Published on 22/04/2011 20:55

EDINBURGH signed off from Murrayfield for the season with a third straight win at home, and though the 27-15 defeat of Newport Gwent Dragons was not good enough to improve their league placing with Glasgow losing 37-29 to Dragons at Firhill the importance of a victory in a tough season was not lost.

The Scottish teams have struggled with injuries and losing players to national duties this season, and Edinburgh's head coach Rob Moffat was sacked in January as they slumped to the bottom half of the table. Nick Scrivener, the interim head coach, is heading home next month and expected to take up a new role within the Australian national set-up.

Despite claiming only a second win over Welsh opposition this season, Edinburgh fell short of the fourth try that would have hoisted them above the Dragons and into seventh place, but with one game remaining away to Treviso on 6 May, Scrivener was happy to see his side continue their improved form, and score three tries in a comfortable victory. He said: "First and foremost it's a win and another back-to-back victory. The Dragons have been a bit of a monkey on our backs so it was good to win against them in front of our fans in our last home game. In the first half I thought we played really well. We were unlucky and not good enough at times to finish off our chances, but the pressure we put them under physically to make tackles I thought told when they had the ball."

The SRU is understood to have completed its second round of interviews for a new head coach yesterday. No Scottish coaches made it to the second round, and former Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan is one name in the frame to take over, though the current USA coach is not expected to be available until after the Rugby World Cup - much like Andy Robinson, who took over in October, 2007.