Edinburgh Rugby lit up by brilliant dummy but run of form has come too late

For the second week running they came from behind to win in the United Rugby Championship. Last Friday it was against bottom side Zebre but this was an altogether more impressive showing against a Sharks side boasting a clutch of World Cup-winning Springboks.

Trailing 21-14 after an hour, they came storming back with three tries in nine minutes to eventually win 33-28. Mosese Tuipulotu, Hector Patterson and Darcy Graham got the vital scores after Ewan Ashman and Glen Young had crossed in the first half, Young after a brilliant dummy from Grant Gilchrist.

It is the first time this season that Edinburgh have won back-to-back games in the URC but they are already out of the running in terms of the play-offs. This result also quashed the Sharks’ hopes of making the top eight.

It was the visitors who looked most likely in the opening skirmishes, displaying a dominance at the set-piece, in particular the scrum. The Sharks had been battering on the door for some time before Edwill van der Merwe made the breakthrough. Zekhethelo Siyaya whipped the ball wide to the winger who had the freedom of Edinburgh to dot down.

Amid some desperate home defending, Graham sustained a cut to his head and was replaced by Jack Brown. The sub was only on the field for 10 minutes while Graham was patched up but made a telling contribution. His run down the right took Edinburgh close to the Sharks line and after carries from Pierre Schoeman and Gilchrist, Patterson was able to slip it inside to Ashman to score.

That restored parity but the Sharks were bossing the scrum and it led indirectly to their second score. Malelili Satala did well to tackle van der Merwe into touch but it only delayed the inevitable and from the lineout Manu Tshituka was able to get over. Sharks lost scrum-half Jaden Hendrikse soon after, with the Springbok carried off on a stretcher.

Edinburgh got back on terms before half-time thanks to Gilchrist’s special moment. The Sharks bought his dummy and he went marauding through the gap before slipping the ball to Young to score.

With the scrum continuing to be an issue for Edinburgh, Everitt replaced Ollie Blyth-Lafferty with Paul Hill just before the break. Replacement prop Vincent Koch edged Sharks ahead in the 56th minute, forcing his way over after a series of pick and goes.

Edinburgh then turned the game around with their three-try splurge. Tuipulotu finished the first one with the help of a juggle as the home side put the ball through the hands of their backs. Patterson then made it two tries in his first two pro games after a charge down by Ashman who was having a stormer.

The best of the lot was Graham’s, though. The little winger was close to his own 22 when he took a pass and hared up the right wing. He collected his own grubber, then chipped on. Piers O’Conor caught it then passed back to Graham who finished under the posts, much to the delight of a sold-out Hive.

Ross Thompson, on for Cammy Scott, managed to convert two of them and Edinburgh now led 33-21. Vincent Tshituka scored with the last play of the game and Jean Smith’s conversion meant the visitors at least left with two losing bonus points.

Teams and scorers

Edinburgh: Tries: Ashman, Young, Tuipulotu, H Patterson, Graham. Cons: Scott 2, Thompson 2.

Sharks: Tries: E van der Merwe, Buthelezi, Koch, V Tshituka. Cons: Smith 4.

Edinburgh: P O'Conor; D Graham (J Brown 7-17), M Tuipulotu, F Thomson, M Satala (J Brown 51); C Scott (R Thompson 52), H Patterson (Shiel 72); P Schoeman (B Venter 51), E Ashman, O Blyth-Lafferty (P Hill 34), M Sykes (C Hunter-Hill 71), G Gilchrist, G Young, F Douglas (D Richardson 51), T Currie (T Dodd 42-52; 72).

Sharks: Z Siyaya; E van der Merwe, A Esterhuizen (capt), S Masuku (M Potgieter 39), M Mapimpi; J Smith, J Hendrikse (B Davids 26); P Ganyane (O Nche h-t), F Mbatha (E Swart h-t), H Jacobs (V Koch h-t), J Jenkins, E van Heerden (C Rahl 62), P Buthelezi (S Kolisi 43), V Tshituka, E Tshituka (N Hatton 66).

Referee: Ben Breakspear (Wales).

Attendance: 7,778.