Scottish Rugby: First win for Edinburgh in Alan Solomons reign

Edinburgh Rugby recorded their first win under new coach, Alan Solomons with a 15-5 victory over Newcastle Falcons in their final warm-up game before the 2013/14 RaboDirect PRO12 season gets under way.

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Playing under the lights of their adopted home ground, Mansfield Park, home of Borders club, Hawick RFC, Edinburgh showed great tenacity and composure throughout the game with the only thing missing from their performance being a try.

The Gunners dominated the first half, going in at the break leading 9-0, and despite a resurgence from the Falcons early in the second half, the home side closed out the game out in front of 4,035 fans.

The game started extremely physically with players from both sides putting in some early big hits – none more so than Edinburgh second-row pairing, Grant Gilchrist and Izak van der Westhuizen.

With most of the early action confined to the space before the gain line, the only scoring opportunities for either side came in the shape of penalties.

Ex-Edinburgh and Scotland stand-of Phil Godman was unsuccessful with his first penalty for the Falcons, but Laidlaw made no mistake with his chances, kicking twice to give the hosts a 6-0 lead.

Earning his first start for the men in black was new signing Jack Cuthbert. The young winger made an early impression on one unfortunate Falcons ball carrier, with a thundering tackle to force a knock-on, much to the delight of the Mansfield Park crowd.

It wasn’t until the 25th minute that the game really opened up. Scotland’s most capped scrum-half Mike Blair made a big break for the Falcons, reaching the Edinburgh 22, only for lock Sean Cox to lead a blistering counter that was only just thwarted at the opposite end.

Following from Cox’s example, prop WP Nel fancied a go with ball in hand and bulldozed his way into the Newcastle half.

A passage of heavy pressure from Edinburgh gifted Laidlaw the opportunity to extend the home side’s lead to 9-0, which is how it stayed until the break.

HALF-TIME: Edinburgh Rugby 9-0 Newcastle Falcons

Despite Edinburgh looking the more dangerous in the first half, it was Newcastle that scored the first try of the game, as they came out firing after half time putting the Edinburgh defense under a lengthy period of pressure.

The Edinburgh line held firm for over 10 minutes, but after losing Nick De Luca to the sin-bin for some over-eager rush defence, some holes emerged allowing Godman the space to go over in the corner for a Falcon’s try (9-5).

Buoyed by their score, Newcastle continued to look threatening but with Edinburgh back to a full complement, they experienced some time with ball-in-hand, and on 65 minutes extended their lead to 12-5, through Piers Francis’ boot.

In the passages that followed, Edinburgh continued to show more of the type of play we saw in the first half, with eventual man of the match, David Denton, leading from the front with some fearless running rugby.

With more pressure and time running out, Francis got the chance to put over another three points which he duly did.

A composed kick from Tonks pushed Newcastle deep into their 22 in the final minutes and, from there, the match was out of reach for the visitors as the full-time whistle brought play to a close.

HALF-TIME: Edinburgh Rugby (9) 15-5 (0) Newcastle Falcons

Team lineups