Rugby: Moffat sticks to guns on Blair decision after loss

Published on Monday 2 November 2009 08:56

Edinburgh 8 Newport Gwent Dragons 9

EDINBURGH Rugby coach Rob Moffat defended a decision to omit Scotland skipper and British Lions scrum half Mike Blair from his starting line-up despite the Capital side slumping to an 8-9 Magners Celtic League defeat at Murrayfield against Newport Gwent Dragons.

A crowd of 2,066 – the lowest since Llanelli visited Edinburgh on 25 November 2007 – saw the title pretenders huff and puff before eventually running out of steam in a match where gilt-edged opportunities were spurned during an intensive 15-minute spell when the experience and nous of Blair, voted man of the- match in the previous encounter, could have counted.

"It is always easy to be wise after the event... but that was not the reason why we lost the game," said Moffat, who appeared contradictory when claiming the period on Dragons' line was still successful for yielding a paltry three points, by Phil Godman, as scrum upon scrum replaced kick at goal.

Eventually, it was Edinburgh who cracked in taking a 56th minute penalty, handing the first Welsh club to win in Edinburgh for 19 months a psychological advantage that was to sustain them despite sub Andy Turnbull notching the game's only try.

Dragons fluffed a chance late on when it was easier for Toby Falatau to score than knock on but, regardless, Moffat insisted: "The decision at 0-9 the first time we got a penalty and took a scrum was spot on."

Who knows what might have happened had the wily Blair been orchestrating matters but for Moffat it was all about turning the screw even if ultimately the thread broke.

"They were under pressure and I thought we would score or get a penalty try," added Moffat.

"Saying 'let's go for it' was the right call and there was plenty of time left."

Clearly loyal to his team on that occasion, Moffat's magnanimity was not, however, universal.

That Edinburgh were the only side to cross the whitewash might have been a source of consolation to some but not the coach, whose only real upbeat memory, rightly, was of Kyle Traynor coming off the bench to show why he has just been called into Scotland's squad for the Bank of Scotland Autumn Tests as replacement for the injured prop Ally Dickinson.

"I'm delighted for Kyle; we are competitive right through our 15," he said.

Not competitive enough to snuff out the Dragons fire, though, and Moffat was forced to admit: "That was unacceptable.

They won the kicking and territorial game. We kicked very poorly, they were smart in the (wet) conditions in either drilling the ball into touch or putting it behind us.

"We struggled to get width in the first half."

Things didn't improve either in a more adventurous second half as Edinburgh sought to overhaul three James Arlidge penalties, Moffat admitting: "We were committing too many bodies to contact (and) when we moved the ball we were then short of numbers.

"We moved it when we had six people lying on the ground at a ruck.

We forced too many passes in contact, knocked-on and lost balls and you don't make excuses for that (weather)."

But where Moffat was particularly apt was in his summing up: "We have to make sure it doesn't happen again."

With Edinburgh now entering a fallow period due to the Test window there will be plenty of time to lick wounds, and what scars there will be. There was a chance to snatch victory in 71 minutes but Phil Godman, in space, fired wide in a match where Blair eventually appeared in the 57th minute.

By then Edinburgh were asking questions but it was their composure which most faltered as wrong options prevailed.

Despite all this a losing bonus point for staying within a single score is sufficient to put Edinburgh joint second, three points adrift, but their alleged policy of building slowly to keep the scoreboard ticking over with kicks if necessary seemed to disappear in the heat of battle This is perhaps the biggest team worry after a myriad of blunders on a night which yielded knee knocks for Scotland stars Phil Godman and Ben Cairns while Chris Paterson (foot infection) was a non-starter along with Alan MacDonald (calf injury).

Scorers:

Team: Try: Turnbull; Penalty: Godman.Dragons: Penalties: Arlidge (3).

Edinburgh: Jones, Houston (A Turnbull 40), Cairns (Robertson 31), De Luca, Visser, Godman, Laidlaw (Blair 57), Jacobsen (Traynor, 63), Ford (Kelly 57, Ford 79), G Cross, S Turnbull, Macleod, Newlands, Hogg (c), Grant. Subs: C Hamilton, McKenzie..

Dragons: Tovey, Brew, Riley (Gomer-Davies 68), Watkins, Fussell, Arlidge, Evans, Gustafson, S Jones (c) (Goodfield 59, Palmer 73, Harris 76), Palmer (Bracken 67), Sidoli, A Jones, Macdonald, Webb (Falatau 71), Thomas. Subs: Thomas, Lee.