'Defensive discipline & accuracy form base for crucial Edinburgh win'
Edinburgh's win over Connacht on Saturday was founded in defence. Connacht had more territory and Edinburgh made more than twice the number of tackles. Nine of the top ten tacklers in the game were in orange, with Hamish Watson - who had an excellent match on both sides of the ball - topping the chart.It was also founded on discipline and accuracy. Edinburgh conceded just eight penalties in the 80 minutes, while our lineout functioned almost flawlessly. It seemed to me that there was less dancing in and out of the line prior to the throws in Galway so perhaps simplicity is best in this area.A word for fly-half Ross Thompson, who had an excellent game. His kicking was flawless, defensively he was solid and played a part in Hamish Watson's try.There were a couple of areas of concern though. We conceded a try almost straight from the second-half restart. In our past 10 games we've given up eight tries in the period between 40 and 50 minutes - it's where we are most likely to be breached.Our lineout looked a little more secure but our maul was repeatedly disrupted and of the eight penalties we conceded, half of them came from interference with the jumper in the air. It happens, but when you realise that it's something the referee is hot on, do you not adapt?Charlie Shiel's brilliant and unexpected run from his own half secured a bonus-point try, with Ben Healy's conversion and subsequent penalty meant a nervous game went Edinburgh's way.The resulting five points mean at the very least we go into the final game of the regular season with a chance of knockout rugby.
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