Edinburgh beat Cardiff with second-half comeback

• 20 Oct 2024
• News

Edinburgh Rugby made it two bonus-points victories on the bounce with a second-half comeback win over Cardiff at Hive Stadium.

Ali Price produced a BKT Player of the match display to inspire the hosts just a week after they claimed a 38-7 victory over DHL Stormers.

Thomas Young marked his first appearance of the season with a try to hand Cardiff a 5-3 lead at half-time.

But Duhan van der Merwe, Pierre Schoeman, Darcy Graham and Ewan Ashman all crossed to clinch maximum points late on.

Grant Gilchrist’s was shown a first half yellow card but victory saw Edinburgh move up to sixth in the United Rugby Championship (URC) on 13 points while Cardiff dropped to ninth.

Having won their opening two games, Cardiff have now lost three in a row and have managed just one from their past eight against Edinburgh.

Cardiff showed nine changes and Edinburgh five from the previous week and both sides were guilty of failing to take early chances in a frantic start.

Graham was stopped short while Aled Davies knocked on a half chance and Price did well to beat Gabriel Hamer-Davies to Callum Sheedy’s kick.

Thompson kicked the opening points but the fly-half was powerless to stop a bulldozing run by giant centre Mason Grady before Young squeezed over in the corner for the first try.

Grady was on the receiving end of a dangerous tackle moments later that saw Gilchrist sent to the sin bin, with the Wales international requiring a head injury assessment.

Young thought he had a second try but was judged to have a foot in front of the ball when he picked up following James Botham’s initial burst.

And the numerical advantage came to nothing when Young completed an eventful half, sent to the sin bin for a breakdown offence after Graham’s good work from a cross-field kick.

Van der Merwe produced a stunning finish over the top of Cam Winnett to regain the lead for Edinburgh just six minutes into the second half.

Price again saved a try for the hosts when he hauled down Evan Lloyd after Cardiff’s replacement hooker made a stunning 70-metre burst from inside his own half.

Sheedy, captaining Cardiff for the first time, trimmed the deficit to two points with a penalty but two tries in three minutes sealed their fate.

Prop Schoeman peeled off a driving lineout and crashed through Ben Thomas’ tackle to score before Price followed Hamish Watson’s break, juggling possession before handing Graham an easy finish.

Josh McNally was the second Cardiff player shown a yellow card and though Ben Muncaster was denied, Edinburgh were gifted their bonus point two minutes from time.

Lloyd overthrew a lineout, Cardiff’s Achilles heel on the night, and Ashman pounced to score a fourth try.