Charlie Shiel scored a vital try for Edinburgh against Connacht.
Image: © Craig Watson. 
STUART BATHGATE
EDINBURGH have often been criticised for lacking a killer instinct when the going gets tough, but they showed that quality in abundance here to keep their URC play-off hopes alive. They now have to beat Ulster at the Hive on Friday night and then hope at least one other result goes their way in order to overhaul their two-point deficit on the sides who are currently just inside the top eight, but on this form and with this attitude they will surely stand a very good chance of completing the first part of that equation.
And make no mistake, the going did get very tough indeed at the Dexcom Stadium in Galway. Connacht, whose feckless first-half display perhaps owed something to their own play-off chances having been ended earlier in the day, were an altogether different beast after the break. They fought back from 14-0 down to 14-14, then levelled again at 21-21 and for a few brief hairy moments it looked like they had taken the game by the scruff of the neck and were about to kill it off.
But cometh the hour, cometh the long-serving yet largely unsung replacement scrum-half. Charlie Shiel had only been on as a substitute for Ali Price for about five minutes when he gathered the ball at the breakdown well inside his own half. For a split second he seemed sure to put in a box-kick – but then shocked the home defence by sprinting through a gap. He evaded one defender, got to the line as another just about reached him, and touched down for his team’s bonus-point try.
Ben Healy, himself a replacement for player of the match Ross Thompson, converted the touchdown. Then, after Edinburgh had run down the clock in relative comfort, Healy helped himself to the last word with a penalty that stretched the lead into double figures.
“That was a massive team effort,” head coach Sean Everitt said. “The bench came on and did their job. There were some really good individual performances.
“It’s all in our hands now. This is a fantastic win away from home. Not an easy place to come to.
“The guys have built a lot of confidence over the last eight weeks of the URC and European rugby. They will be happy tonight, but it’s a short turnaround and a massive week against Ulster next week. Five points is a must for us.”
It was not only the half-back replacements who came on and did their job, either. Findlay Thomson, too, played his part after replacing the injured Mosese Tuipulotu – making his debut after only being drafted into the 23 at short notice because of an injury to James Lang.
Tuipulotu needed to be stretchered off with a knee injury and was being assessed in hospital after the match. It now looks extremely unlikely that he will be involved against Ulster.
Edinburgh got off to an excellent start with an eighth-minute try by Pierre Schoeman, scored mainly thanks to Connacht’s poor discipline. The Irishmen gave away four lineout penalties in quick succession, the kicks all went to touch, and eventually, after good work from Darcy Graham and Ewan Ashman, the newly-selected British & Irish Lion finished off from just outside the five-metre line. Thompson added the conversion.
Connacht started to get the upper hand after that, with Bundee Aki leading the way. And midway through the half they thought they had drawn level when, after a scrum awarded against Price for delaying the box kick, Cian Prendergast touched down. JJ Hanrahan added the extras – or at least thought he had done so, as only then was the score reviewed, and referee Ben Breakspear chalked it off for obstruction.
The home team were soon back on the attack, but a good chance of a score was ended when Schoeman ripped the ball away. Then, just past the midpoint of the half, Edinburgh doubled their lead. They attacked up the narrow side after a lineout on the left, and Jack Brown provided the scoring pass to Hamish Watson, who ran in the try from 35m out. Thompson converted again.
The half ended with Connacht on the attack again, but once more the visitors’ defence was up to the task. Thompson and Mosese Tuipulotu combined to put in a big hit on Aki, and then Marshall Sykes won a penalty with a jackal at the breakdown.
After failing to score in the first half, Connacht needed just 70 seconds to do so in the second as Shayne Bolton broke through the middle then put Finn Treacy in on the left. Hanrahan’s conversion made it 7-14.
Ten minutes or so later, Treacy struck again. Scrum-half Ben Murphy got the ball out of a breakdown, and the winger timed his run infield perfectly to collect the pass and touch down between the posts. Hanrahan equalised with the conversion, and the question then for the visitors was whether they could regain the momentum that appeared to have been lost at half-time.
The reply was an emphatic yes, as they regained the lead just short of the hour mark. A penalty was sent to touch, and after Ashman got close to the line from the maul, Ben Muncaster ploughed over. Thompson converted to make it 14-21.
But Connacht were far from finished and after 65 minutes Bolton scored in the right corner from a Santiago Cordero pass. Hanrahan equalised again with the conversion.
Then, with time running out, substitute scrum-half Shiel struck for the Scots. “We know what he can do,” Everitt said of the try-scorer. “He showed his pace to finish off when we needed something special. Charlie provided that special moment, which was great for us.”
Great for Edinburgh, great for their supporters, and with any luck great for everyone who will go along to the Hive on Friday with high hopes of witnessing another totally committed performance like this from Everitt’s squad.
Teams –
Connacht: S Cordero; S Bolton, H Gavin (D Hawkshaw 41), B Aki, F Treacy; JJ Hanrahan, B Murphy (C Blade 66); D Buckley (P Dooley 62), D Heffernan (D Tierney-Martin 62), F Bealham (J Aungier 62), J Murphy, D Murray (O Dowling 53, Murray 73), C Prendergast (captain), C Oliver, S Jansen (P Boyle 53).
Edinburgh: W Goosen; D Graham, M Currie, M Tuipulotu (F Thomson 54), J Brown; R Thompson (B Healy 71), A Price (C Shiel 67); P Schoeman (B Venter 63), E Ashman (P Harrison 63), D Rae (J Sebastian 50), M Sykes (G Young 71), S Skinner, B Muncaster (L McConnell 73), H Watson, M Bradbury (captain).
Referee: Ben Breakspear (Wales).
Scorers –
Connacht: Tries: Treacy, Bolton. Cons: Hanrahan 3.
Edinburgh: Tries: Schoeman, Watson, Muncaster, Shiel. Cons: Thompson 3, Healy. Pen: Healy.
Scoring sequence (Connacht first): 0-5; 0-7; 0-12; 0-14; ht; 5-14; 7-14; 12-14; 14-14; 14-19; 14-21; 19-21; 21-21; 21-26; 21-28; 21-31.