Michael Bradley praises Edinburgh’s solid defence

MICHAEL Bradley could win the lottery and still maintain his impersonation of an Easter Island statue so there was little danger of the Irish coach dancing a jig despite his team’s outstanding win in Reading.

If we hadn’t witnessed Edinburgh coming from behind to beat the club placed third in England’s Aviva Premiership the assembled journalists would never have guessed the result from the Edinburgh’s coach’s demeanour.

“We defended very well in that last period - it was outstanding defence with no penalty conceded and no try. Those sort of things make tournaments and they make seasons. We were 19-10 down at one stage and had to fight hard. We did that and we kept our shape and we got the win in the end.”

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Bradley reported that David Denton, replaced after 27 minutes was “a bit dazed” as the prospect of English indiscipline reared its ugly head once again. Shontayne Hape appeared to catch the Edinburgh flanker high and England’s Kiwi centre was eventually yellow carded for a shoulder charge on Sean Cox, an act that ultimately cost his side the match.

“I’ll have to have a good look at it,” said Bradley. “It’s one of those things, possibly Hape could have slipped up and made a shoulder to head (tackle). Rugby is a physical sport. I’ll have a look at it anyway.”

The arrival of Sean Cox, who replaced Denton, did Edinburgh no harm and he certainly enjoyed the last laugh in his battle with Hape, although he was a little lucky. As the Kiwi took one quick 22 drop-out, Cox scragged Hape and then appeared to land an elbow in his face. Another referee might have shown yellow although Romain Poite simply delivered a dressing down.

Bradley says the mind-set of Racing Metro 92, their next opponent at Murrayfield, is all important.

“They have to win that if they want to stay in the competition which makes them very dangerous. We’ll be aware of that and it’ll be a battle next week.”

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