Late pain for Immelman but Blair full of praise for capital men

PROUD Edinburgh head coach Mike Blair praised his players for the ‘guts, courage and skill’ they showed in defeat in what was a compelling encounter against the Bulls in South Africa.

Edinburgh could have won but full-back Henry Immelman pulled his penalty attempt wide with the clock in the red. They may have lost but the visitors — who had come back from an early 15-0 deficit — had man of the match in winger Darcy Graham, who scored a hat-trick of tries .

The winning points for the Bulls were scored by veteran fly-half Morne Steyn, who put over a longrange penalty two minutes from time, just before Immelman missed his. It was no surprise that Steyn kept his nerve to kick the winning points as he did the same for South Africa in the third Test against the British and Irish Lions last summer.

Blair was proud that his side had come so close to becoming the first northern-hemisphere United Rugby Championship side to beat the Bulls on their home ground.

‘It was definitely a disappointing start and I didn’t think we were quite there mentally,’ he said. ‘The poor start gave the Bulls a couple of easy ins into the game by us not being switched on enough. On the positive side, the way we came back from that and the guts, courage and skill we brought to the game was absolutely outstanding.

‘We gave them a cushion at the start but we got ourselves back into the position to win the game and I am so proud we fought back.’

Blair pointed no blame at Immelman for missing the long-range penalty to win the match as he is not a regular goal kicker but had to take it due to injuries to others, saying: ‘Henry is not a front-line kicker but he stood up and wanted to do that. It was a difficult kick, he didn’t make it and of course he is distraught about it. He had an excellent game apart from that.

‘There were kickers ahead of him that weren’t available with Blair Kinghorn calling off the morning of the match through sickness. That kick was in Mark Bennett’s range but he wasn’t in a position to take it as he had been hit hard on the upper body and neck which is why we got the penalty in the first place.’

There was action from start to finish with Edinburgh nearly taking an early lead when Henry Pyrgos hit the crossbar with a dropgoal effort. Immelman tried the same moments later but his attempt drifted wide.

The home side broke the deadlock after five minutes when Chris Smith put over a penalty after Pierre Schoeman was penalised at the scrum.

Edinburgh were hit by a major blow six minutes later when Jaco van der Walt went off after picking up a head knock. Charlie Savala was introduced into the game at fly-half much earlier than head coach Blair would have wanted.

To make matters worse, in the first play after Van der Walt went off, the Bulls went over for the first try. A quick tap penalty from in front of the Edinburgh posts was well worked by the South African forwards with Johan Grobbelaar touching down. Smith did the extras.

Edinburgh co-captain Grant Gilchrist was sent to the sin bin for interference at the line-out which was his team’s seventh penalty in just 17 minutes of the match. They also lost Luke Crosbie, who had to go off for an HIA after he was involved in a nasty collision with Schoeman when both went for the same ball. Hamish Watson was his temporary replacement up until he returned on the half-hour mark.

The Bulls’ second try came from a line-out that they won with ease which allowed them to set up a move that led to Elrigh Louw peeling off to crash over. Fifteen points down and with the danger of the game running away from them, Edinburgh regrouped well.

They got on the scoreboard in their first real attack after great work from James Lang made a hole in the Bulls defence. Watson took it on and when the ball was spun out wide Savala went in at the corner. Bennett put over the conversion.

On the half-hour mark, winger Graham made it look so easy as he made use of a small amount of space to glide past two defenders to score under the posts. Bennett’s conversion cut the deficit to a point. A minute before the break Gilchrist had to go off with a hand injury to be replaced by Marshall Sykes.

The Bulls made the perfect start to the second half after an excellent kick off from Smith. It caused havoc in the Edinburgh defence with the South African side nearly going straight under the posts. They recycled the ball out wide with Cornal Hendricks going over in the corner.

Edinburgh got a second try when Bennett’s long-range penalty attempt came back off the inside of the post. With the Bulls daydreaming, Graham reacted first to score.

A Smith penalty increased the Bulls’ lead before Graham got his hat-trick. Magnificent takes from close to the ground first from Bill Mata and then from Immelman found the winger out wide. Although space was tight, he managed to score in the corner. Just when the visitors fancied their chances of coming away with a win Stravino Jacobs went over in the corner.

Edinburgh were still in it and showed great patience in attack with replacement Ben Vellacott and Bennett involved as they got together to play in Damien Hoyland

for a try. Bennett’s conversion gave Edinburgh a one-point lead.

With six minutes remaining, Immelman tried a penalty from 60metres out that went well wide. Then, with two minutes left, Jamie Richie was penalised at the breakdown which set up a long-range penalty attempt by Steyn.

The pressure may have been on him but the veteran replacement put the ball straight between the posts.

Edinburgh had a chance to win the game with the last kick of the match after Bennett was the victim of a high tackle by Jacobs. Immelman took the kick but unfortunately for the visitors it went well wide.

SCORERS; BULLS — Tries: Grobbelaar, Louw, Hendricks, Jacobs. Cons: Smith (2). Pens: Smith (2), Steyn.

EDINBURGH — Tries: Savala, Graham (3), Hoyland. Cons: Bennett (3).