The home squad, including most of those players who will now leave the club and whose departure was announced earlier this week, performed the traditional \u2018lap of thanks\u2019 at the end of the match. Given those departures and the arrival of a number of new signings, Edinburgh will look very different next season. Whether they can play more consistently will be the principal question hanging over Everitt this summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally disappointed that we couldn\u2019t get over the line and get a win tonight,\u201d was his verdict on this game. \u201cAnd a good lesson for us as well from a physicality point of view.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had eight youngsters in the team. They\u2019ll learn from the experience, but you\u2019ve got to win the physical battle as well and that\u2019ll help you get over the line.\u00a0 Unfortunately our maul didn\u2019t function as well as it could have and we could have been better with ball in hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe attack let us down this season, I believe.\u00a0 You know, last year we were good with ball in hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Asked to sum up the campaign as a whole, Everitt added: \u201cObviously it\u2019s disappointing for us There\u2019s many reasons for that. It\u2019s not just one. There\u2019s multiple reasons why we haven\u2019t got there.\u201d<\/p>\n
An early Connacht attack that looked sure to produce a score was snuffed out close to his own line by Harry Paterson<\/b>, while at the other end, a multi-phase move from the home team was ended by a knock-on. That open, enterprising pattern continued for the first quarter-hour and more, until Edinburgh were awarded two kickable penalties inside the visitors\u2019 22. Both went to touch, but although the set-pieces seemed sure to produce a score, neither attempt from the lineout came close. Another lineout from further out saw the maul gain good ground, but again the Connacht defence held firm, and minutes later a fourth throw \u2013 this time from the other side \u2013 ended in a penalty for the Irish side.<\/p>\n
Having soaked up all that pressure, Connacht then stunned Edinburgh with a superb breakaway try in the 25th minute. The sheer speed did the initial damage, the number of runners up in support did the rest, and just a few passes later Josh Ioane<\/b> touched down for an unconverted score.<\/p>\n
Some exceptional goal-line defence denied Edinburgh a quick reply, and indeed, the next clear chance came Connacht\u2019s way thanks to another breakaway \u2013 with the boot this time \u2013 that Paterson again managed to end.<\/p>\n
But the lead did increase all the same five minutes from time. Heavy pressure took Connacht to within touching distance of the home posts, and after one drive was held on the line, openside Shamus Hurley-Langton<\/b> dived over what was left of a ruck to score. Sam Gilbert<\/b>\u2019s conversion was successful this time, making it 0-12.<\/p>\n
Having been under the pump for a time, Connacht were well on time by that time, and increased their lead on the cusp of half-time with another dogged drive, this time finished off by Joe Joyce<\/b> and once more converted by the full-back.<\/p>\n
The three-score deficit left Edinburgh with a lot to do in the second half \u2013 far too much, as it turned out. They began it in determined fashion, and were camped inside the Connacht 22 for much of the first 15 minutes after the restart. As in the first half, though, they lacked the extra impetus or ingenuity needed to break down a relentless defence.<\/p>\n
After 55 minutes Edinburgh were awarded a penalty for an off-the-ball block on Darcy Graham<\/b>, but once more they went nowhere from the lineout. Then a long passing move went from side to side without really going anywhere much \u2013 and it was ended when replacement scrum-half Matthew Devine<\/b> intercepted then raced clear to score barely a minute after he had come off the bench. Gilbert converted, and any lingering doubts about the outcome were dispelled.<\/p>\n
Replacement scrum-half Charlie Shiel<\/b>, playing his last game for Edinburgh, looked like he had signed off on a high note with a clever chip through for Piers O\u2019Conor<\/b>. If the centre had collected cleanly he might just have made the line, but the bounce was unkind and the chance vanished.<\/p>\n
Edinburgh were not to be denied, though, and with eight minutes left Ewan Ashman<\/b> powered over the line after an energetic burst by Duhan van der Merwe<\/b>. Ross Thompson<\/b> was wide with the conversion attempt.<\/p>\n
Teams \u2013\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Edinburgh:<\/b> H Paterson (J Brown 74); D Graham, P O\u2019Conor, F Thompson, D van der Merwe; R Thompson, H Patterson (C Shiel 64); P Schoeman (B Venter 54), E Ashman (J Blyth-Lafferty 74), O Blyth-Lafferty (P Hill 54), M Sykes, G Young (C Hunter-Hill 57), T Dodd (T Currie 54), F Douglas (E McVie 67), M Bradbury (captain).<\/p>\n
Connacht: <\/b>S Gilbert; S Jennings, H West (S Naughton 26), B Aki, S Bolton |(J Carty 64); J Ioane, B Murphy (M Devine 59); B Bohan (P Dooley 48),, E de Buitlear (M Yarr 68), F Bealham (S Illo 48), J Joyce, J Murphy (D O\u2019Connor 54), C Prendergast (captain), S Hurley-Langton, S Jansen (P Boyle 55).<\/p>\n
Scorers \u2013\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Edinburgh:<\/b> Try: Van der Merwe.<\/p>\n
Connacht: <\/b>Tries: Ioane, Hurley-Langton, Joyce, Devine. Cons: Gilbert 3.<\/p>\n
Scoring sequence (Edinburgh first):<\/b> 0-5; 0-10; 0-12; 0-17; 0-19; half-time; 0-24; 0-26; 5-26.<\/p>\n
Referee:<\/b> Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa).<\/p>\n
Attendance:<\/b> 7,778.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The home squad, including most of those players who will now leave the club and whose departure was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":962799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,19909,85185,1102,10753,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-962798","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-connacht","10":"tag-divi","11":"tag-edinburgh","12":"tag-edinburgh-rugby","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116581785349124741","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=962798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/962799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=962798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=962798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=962798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}