Edinburgh bounced back from their Heineken Cup defeat against London Irish to
claim top spot in Pool A of the Celtic League with a commanding win over Neath
at Meadowbank Stadium on Friday night.
A try by Derrick Lee just before the break finally broke Welsh resistance
while quickfire touchdowns from Craig Joiner and Brendan Laney on the restart
put the issue beyond doubt.
A scrappy opening period saw Laney score with a drop goal and penalty while
Shaun Connor responded with two penalties for the visitors.
Sustained Edinburgh pressure looked like being resisted by a the rock solid
Welsh All Blacks until Lee turned on the style seconds before the interval.
The full-back was at his twinkle-toed best in wrong footing two Neath players
before nipping in under the posts to give Laney an easy conversion.
It proved a crucial breakthrough as the Gunners came storming out on the
restart to completely seize the initiative with two stunning scores.
In 42 minutes forwards and backs combined brilliantly for Craig Joiner to
burst through two despairing tackles and complete a move which seemed to come
straight from the training ground.
Joiner was involved again three minutes later when he exchanged passes with
the inspirational Lee who then gave a perfectly timed delivery to Laney who
scored under the posts.
Both scores were converted by the powerful centre as Edinburgh opened up a
21-point advantage.
The home side were guilty of easing off in the latter stages and Neath
cashed-in to grab a try when prop Duncan Jones plunged over and replacement
stand-off Matthew Jones converted.
However, it was no more than a consolation for the visitors.
Home coach Frank Hadden, whose side will now enjoy a home tie in the
quarter-final, said: "A sloppy last quarter should not hide the outstanding
rugby which went before, considering the conditions."
Teams
Edinburgh: Lee, Sharman, Laney, Dickson, Joiner, Hodge, Burns,
Jacobsen, Hall, Smith, Hines, Murray, Blackadder, Leslie,
Taylor.
Not Used: Di Ciacca, Brannigan, Perrett, A. Dall, Blair, Shiel,
Philip.
Tries: Lee, Laney, Joiner.
Cons: Laney 3.
Pens: Laney. Drop Goals: Laney.
Neath: G. Morris, K. James, A.
Bateman, Tiueti, S. Williams,
S. Connor, Horgan, D. Jones, S. Jones, Millward, A. Newman,
G. Llewellyn, Jenkins, Mocelutu, Bonner-Evans.
Not Used: P. Jones, Storey, P. James, B. Williams, A. Jones,
Martin, Tandy.
Tries: D. Jones.
Cons: M. Jones.
Pens: S. Connor 2.
Att: 3,171
Ref: Alain Rolland (Ireland).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook