Edinburgh off the mark in style after Darcy Graham false alarm as fellow Scotland star forced off
Scotland wingers in the wars as Edinburgh get first win over URC season
Darcy Graham had us all worried. The little winger went down clutching his knee in the first half and for all the world it looked like his game was over.
Bad news for Edinburgh and, with the Autumn Nations Series just a fortnight away, this was potentially worrying for Scotland too. But Graham is nothing if not durable and after receiving treatment on three separate occasions he recovered sufficiently to score two memorable tries as Edinburgh trounced Benetton 43-0 for their first win of the United Rugby Championship season.
Graham played the whole game but was still moving gingerly at the end and when asked by Premier Sports if his knee was okay, he said “Yes, I think so. I got through the game. Obviously I tweaked it early on but it seems to be alright.
“I just needed five minutes to run it off and then a bit of ice on it at half-time - good as new.”
He wasn’t the only Scotland winger in the wars. Duhan van der Merwe, who scored the game’s first try, had to come off early in the second half with a bruised heel. Sean Everitt, the Edinburgh coach, thinks he will be fit for next week’s game against Cardiff.
“Duhan scored a great try,” said Everitt. “It just shows when you get the ball in his hand with a bit of space, it's really good. That was our plan today.
“Duhan has bruised his heel. We'll take a look at that on Monday. It's not the first time we've had bruised heels. Darcy struggled with that last year as well. But we hope that he'll be good to go next week.
“Darcy got a knee-on-knee in the game. At this stage, it doesn't look like there's any soft tissue [damage] otherwise, I'm sure the medics would have pulled him off. We'll monitor him. But he got through and scored a great try at the end, so he looks okay.”
Everitt delighted after frustrating start to season
Everitt was understandably delighted to get off the mark and was as pleased with his side’s defending as he was with their seven tries. It was also a very disciplined performance from the home side after last week’s four yellow cards in the defeat by Munster.
“It’s great to win at home in front of our fans. It’s been a frustrating few weeks,” said Everitt who had seen his side lose narrowly in away games to Zebre and Munster and had their home match with Ulster postponed due to Storm Amy. “It's been over three weeks that we've played two games. We’ve done a lot of good in those games but haven't come away with a win. So frustrating but determined to get it right and that's the nature of this group.”
On a night when Dylan Richardson and Piers O’Conor scored their first tries for the club - the former bagged a double - Edinburgh wore down opponents who were missing several of their leading lights, including Louis Lynagh, Michele Lamaro and Tommaso Menoncello.
Magnus Bradbury, the captain, was excellent once more for Edinburgh and his back-row colleague Liam McConnell also stood tall and looks a real player of promise. The new halfback pairing of Charlie Shiel and Cammy Scott earned their corn, too.
Questions had been asked about van der Merwe’s lack of involvement in last week’s loss to Munster but the winger did not take long to make an impact against Benetton. The game was only five minutes old when he scored the opening try. Bradbury, picking the ball off the base of the scrum, punched a hole in the Italians’ defence and then Scott floated a pass to Wes Goosen who shipped it on to van der Merwe to surge home. Scott converted from out wide.
It was the perfect start for the hosts and there was more to come. After Ewan Ashman had been held up, Richardson followed through and was able to stretch out and touch down one-handed from close range.
Scott’s conversion made it 14-0 with only 10 minutes on the clock and all looked rosy for Everitt’s side. They then went into their shell rather and it was Benetton who dominated the middle period of the half.
Edinburgh, to their credit, defended stoutly and they kept the visitors at bay. However, there was a big concern for the home side, and for Scotland coach Gregor Townsend, when Graham crumpled in the 25th minute. The winger was going for a high ball with Ignacio Mendy but never got off the ground and went down clutching his right knee.
Graham looked in a lot of pain as he received treatment and grimaced further when he was forced to chase a Benetton kick a few minutes later. More treatment followed and eventually the knee was strapped up.
With the autumn Test series just around the corner it might have been judicious to remove him from the fray but the winger was keen to play on and finished the first half by nabbing Edinburgh’s third try. And it was a trademark Graham finish. Facing Rhyno Smith one-on-one there looked no way through but he outwitted the Benetton wing in the tightest of spaces. Kudos to McConnell for the assist. Scott made it three from three to make it 21-0 at the turn.
Edinburgh did then have to replace a Scotland winger but it was van der Merwe rather than Graham. Ross McCann took over from the Lion on the left flank. Edinburgh lost Scott shortly afterwards, the young stand-off the victim of a cynical no-arms tackle from Malakai Fekitoa which earned the Benetton centre a yellow card.
He caught Scott high, forcing the 10 off for an HIA. He didn’t return, replaced by Ross Thompson.
Edinburgh had seen four of their players yellow-carded in Cork last week but the boot was on the other foot this time and not long after Fekitoa returned, Benetton sub Alessandro Garbisi was sent to the bin. He had tried to halt an Edinburgh attack but his (illegal) efforts had been in vain as Richardson forced his way over for his second try, and the bonus point.
Edinburgh then cut loose. Goosen, a reliable presence throughout, produced a lovely dummy and broke clear before feeding O’Conor for the fifth try of the night which Thompson converted. Bradbury got the sixth, battering his way over despite the present of three Benetton defenders.
The last word went to Graham who ran in the final try from halfway after Benetton had coughed up possession.
Scorers: Edinburgh: Tries: van der Merwe, Richardson 2, Graham 2, O’Conor, Bradbury. Cons: Scott 3, Thompson.
Yellow cards: M Fekitoa (Benetton, 44min), A Garbisi (Benetton, 58min)
Edinburgh: W Goosen; D Graham, P O’Conor, J Lang, D van der Merwe (R McCann 44); C Scott (R Thompson 46), C Shiel (B Vellacott 66); P Schoeman (J Whitcombe 66), E Ashman (P Harrison 60), D Rae (P Hill 48), S Skinner, G Gilchrist, L McConnell (G Young 71), D Richardson (F Douglas 60), M Bradbury.
Benetton: M Gallagher; R Smyth, F Drago (L Marin 55) M Fekitoa, I Mendy; J Umaga, L Werchon (A Garbisi 48); M Spagnolo (T Gallo 48), S Maile (B Bernasconi 59), G Zilocchi (T Pasquali 52), G Marini (R Favretto 52), E Snyman (F Ruzza 59), A Izekor, J Bryant (M Zuliani 52), S Fa’aso’o.
Referee: Ben Breakspear (WRU).
Attendance: 6,763.
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