London Irish 19 - 20 Edinburgh: Edinburgh shock exiles

Michael Bradley’s team were good value for that rarest of animals, a Heineken Cup win on the road, scoring two tries to one and bouncing back from a 19-10 deficit to score ten points in the final 20 minutes. They still had to suffer an agonising final few minutes as they nursed their precious one point lead.

This match was a slow burner which only really came to life in a final quarter that was every bit as absorbing as any Hitchcock thriller. Trailing by two points with 12 minutes to play, Tim Visser hit a line off Greig Laidlaw’s shoulder and looked to have scored by the posts. The television match official ruled that he’d dropped the ball but, not to be outdone, the linesman got in on the act. He’d spotted a shoulder barge by Shontayne Hape on Edinburgh flanker Sean Cox – the pair had been at it all match. So, while the try was wiped out, Edinburgh still had a simple enough penalty to take the lead and Hape spent the final ten minutes of the match on the sidelines.

Greig Laidlaw had taken over the kicking duties from Harry Leonard and the little scrum-half did the needful. Edinburgh still had to hold their breath as the Exiles’ Tom Homer lined up his own penalty to snatch the win just minutes later. The full-back kicks around 90 per cent, according to coach Toby Booth, but the marksman was wayward for once and Edinburgh staved off a long series of Irish attacks until the Canadian No.8 Jebb Sinclair eventually knocked on to concede the turnover.

Edinburgh’s teenage stand-off Leonard turned out for London Irish A team in his younger days and they might want him back after this. He made a few mistakes and fluffed a couple of kicks at goal but that is only to be expected of someone who was making his Heineken debut. Mike Blair sniped around the fringes and saved a certain try at the tail end of the first half. Matt Scott and Nick De Luca are improving with every game they play together and the two Rosses, Rennie and Ford, carried tirelessly into the heart of the Irish defence. David Denton did likewise, at least for the first 27 minutes, until he was blind-sided by Hape, with the England midfielder catching him head high, which accounted for the subsequent running battle with Cox.

The Edinburgh lineout functioned adequately but, after suffering the indignity of being shunted off their very first put-in, the men in red struggled all day at the set scrum where both loosehead props looked to hold the whip hand. Geoff Cross was given a thorough examination by England’s Alex Corbisiero.

Edinburgh’s biggest threats are usually wide on the flanks, so it was only appropriate that, after falling behind to a pair of Homer penalties, the visitors struck back when their two wingers combined for the first try of the match.

Lee Jones popped up on the “wrong” wing, fed Visser and tracked the Dutchman for the return pass, shrugging off lock Matt Garvey on his way to the left hand corner.

Having laid on Edinburgh’s score, Visser then prevented one at the other end of the field.

Irish skipper Dan Bowden chipped and Hape hacked ahead. The big centre was winning the race as the ball bounced over the Edinburgh try line before Visser appeared out of nowhere to nudge the Kiwi off kilter at the vital moment.

Still Edinburgh’s lead didn’t last long as Homer nudged his side ahead again with a 53-metre penalty before the Exiles’ Scottish scrum-half Ross Samson showed his former club what they were missing with a cheeky score from about six inches out after Homer was brought down short of the try line.

Irish took a 16-10 lead into the interval and they stretched that lead by another three shortly after the restart when Joe Ansbro combined well with Hape and only a flying tackle by Rennie kept the Edinburgh line intact. Homer kicked another three but, just as the Exiles looked to tighten their grip on this game, man-of-the-match Stuart McInally scored a wonderful solo effort.

Following a patient build up by Edinburgh, the ball was shifted left where De Luca, under severe pressure from his opposite number, flapped the ball on and the high risk ploy paid off.

It fell nicely for McInally coming on an angle and the breakaway showed great pace and determination to sprint in from 20 yards out, leaving three Irish tacklers floundering in his wake as he dived over the line.

That left Edinburgh still trailing by just two points but Bradley’s men displayed real character to come from behind and snatch a priceless win away from home when Laidlaw kicked what turned out to be the winning penalty ten minutes from time.

Scorers: London Irish: Try: Samson. Conv: Homer. Pen: Homer (4). Edinburgh: Tries: Jones, McInally. Conv: Leonard, Laidlaw. Pen: Leonard, Laidlaw.

London Irish: Homer, Ansbro, Shingler, Hape, Thompstone; Bowden (Capt), Samson (Hodgson 67 min); Corbisiero (Rauternbach, 53), Buckland, Ion (Lahiff, 53), Kennedy, Garvey (Sandford 61 min), Evans, Gibson (Thorpe, 61), Sinclair.

Edinburgh: Thompson, Jones, De Luca, Scott, Visser; Leonard, Blair (Laidlaw, 45); Jacobsen, Ford (capt), Cross, Lozada, Turnbull, Denton (Cox, 27), Rennie (Grant, 45), McInally.

Referee: Romain Poite (FFR). Attendance: 6,217.