Edinburgh coach calls for more after sloppy Cardiff loss

Published on Sunday 5 September 2010 16:11

Edinburgh coach Rob Moffat will demand a quicker, less sloppy and significantly smarter performance from his side when Munster arrive at Murrayfield in the Magners League on Friday.

Having built for the season's competitive opener with a 19-17 victory over London Irish eight days previously, the Gunners set off for the Principality with high hopes of extending their unbeaten run against the Blues to five matches.

They were 22-21 winners at the Cardiff City Stadium on the opening night last season and 21-12 winners when the sides met at Murrayfield later in the campaign. The Edinburgh win was their fourth in succession against Dai Young's side. Sadly, there was to be no positive end to this foray south, with one of this season's title favourites chalking up a deserved bonus-point 34-23 victory.

For Moffat, there were some positive moments - two tries from Tim Visser and one or two solid enough displays from the likes of captain Roddy Grant, Mike Blair and most notably Ben Cairns, providing some salvation.

However, just as they leaked 21 points in the first half against Bath two weeks previously, they found themselves behind the black ball once again as the Blues built a 17-point lead inside as many minutes. From that juncture, there was no way back and though the Blues had to hang on in the final quarter after Tom James was yellow carded for handling at a ruck, they did so to take maximum spoils.

What made it worse for the visitors was that Scottish international Dan Parks put the icing on the Blues victory with a 14-point haul that deservedly earned him the man of the match award.

Moffatt, who was full of praise for Parks' virtuoso display, said; "We didn't deserve to win the game. We were sloppy and we couldn't build enough pressure on Cardiff.

"With ten minutes to go, I thought if we scored it would be interesting, but overall we made too many mistakes and we need to improve on that.

"We were slow and static and the game of rugby is all about quick ball.

"We need to become sharper and more clinical. You cannot afford to give a side like that a 17-point start. That's what we did and we paid the price."

Parks, however, was in far more jubilant mood. He said: "It was fantastic to be here and get away to a winning start. There a few things to fix up but it was a positive start.

"I've been really nervous, but I like to be nervous because it's good energy and the game worked out well in the end.

Captain Grant was a little more upbeat than his coach whilst also accepting that his side will need to cut out the needless mistakes when Munster pitch up on Friday night.

"Some of the rugby we played, particularly in the final quarter, towards the end, was really good," said the skipper. "We felt we had them on the ropes. However, there were times when we didn't keep the ball long enough. We coughed it up in the first half on too many occasions and they made us pay.

"Next week will be very physical. Munster will come out and keep going like a machine. We need to soak up their pressure and make sure we keep the ball when we get it. Hopefully we will get a good crowd and achieve the same result as we got against them last year."

It was a Parks penalty, after seven minutes, that set the Blues on their way and a converted try from Bradley Davies that took the Welsh region ten points clear inside 17 minutes.

Chris Paterson, making his first competitive appearance since sustaining damage to his kidney at the Millennium Stadium seven months ago, made amends for an early penalty miss when he popped over the first of his penalties on 26 minutes, but by half time the Blues added another converted try from Tom James after a wonderful chip, chase and catch from Xavier Rush.

Parks added a second penalty, but Paterson did provide Moffat with some hope with two more penalties in the final minutes of the half.

But the visitors, who lost back-row forward Alan MacDonald to a hip injury shortly before half time, made the worst possible start to the second period by conceding another try, this time to former Wales hooker Rhys Thomas.

To their credit, Edinburgh were far from outgunned and with the likes of Cairns and Alex Grove making significant headway, they struck back with the first of Visser's two tries.

Cairns carved a hole in the Blues midfield and released Visser for a try that Paterson duly improved.

After James departed for handling in a ruck, Edinburgh sought to fully hammer home their numerical advantage with replacement half-backs Greig Laidlaw and David Blair enjoying a plentiful supply of ball.

Unfortunately, with time running out, centre Casey Laulala touched down for a fourth Blues try and though Visser completed the scoring in stoppage time, it was all too little too late.

Scorers:

Cardiff: Tries: Davies, James, Thomas, Laulala; Cons: Parks (4); Pens: Parks (2). Edinburgh: Tries: Visser (2); Cons: Paterson (2); Pens: Paterson (3).

Cardiff Blues: C Czekaj; R Mustoe, C Laulala, T Shanklin, T James; D Parks, R Rees; G Jenkins, R Thomas, S Andrews, B Davies, P Tito (c) (D Jones 47), M Molitika, M Williams (S Warburton 67), X Rush.

Edinburgh: C Paterson; L Jones, B Cairns, A Grove (J Houston 54), T Visser; P Godman ((D Blair 67), M Blair (G Laidlaw 67); A Jacobsen (K Traynor 54), R Ford (A Kelly 67), G Cross (J Gilding 62), F McKenzie (C Hamilton 62), S MacLeod, A MacDonald (S Newlands 38), R Grant (c), N Talei.