15. Blair Kinghorn – 8 out of 10
The last line of defence and stood up to the challenge with the same courage as each of his team-mates. His eye for a gap on kick reception kept Warriors on their toes although he didn’t get much joy from that on this occasion.
14. Dougie Fife – 8
Not a lot of opportunity to shine with the ball in hand but Edinburgh needed grafters and Fife delivered, before being replaced by Ritchie with half an hour to go when head coach Cockerill decided that he needed to even up the numbers in the pack. Great cover tackle on Huw Jones stopped what looked like being a decisive try.
13. James Johnstone – 8
Very little chance to show what he can do with ball in hand, but stuck to his task manfully.
12. Phil Burleigh – 8
His intelligence and ball playing ability was invaluable in support of Van Der Walt.
11. Duhan Van Der Merwe – 8
Plenty hard running and made all his tackles.
10. Jaco Van Der Walt – 9
Unlucky to lose control of the ball to a stray Alex Dunbar boot after a powerful break up the left touchline just before the half hour mark in which he shrugged off three tackles. A gutsy competitor and took on a lot of contact in support of his outnumbered forwards. Richard Cockerill’s kind of player.
9. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne – 8
Was well up for this one, as his early stramash with opposite number Ali Price demonstrated, and his belligerence was key to keeping the score respectable during the 54 minutes he had on the park. Managed to hold Vunisa up over the line when Warriors were really turning the screw towards the end of the first half.
1. Rory Sutherland – 8
Battled away heroically but after so long out it is inevitable that he is going to take time to get fully back up to pace, retired early in the second half nursing his shoulder.
2. Stuart McInally – 9
Leadership used to be an issue at Edinburgh. It turns out they had characters of real substance there all along, just waiting for their potential to be untapped. The captain for the day is the most shining example of this.
3. Simon Berghan – 1
Red card in the fifth minute for stamping on Fraser Brown’s head. Gets a point because of his moment of madness was the catalyst to his team-mates registering one of the great performances in the club’s history.
4. Ben Toolis – 8
His work-rate is phenomenal. Ended up looking a bit silly when he stood off a close range line-out and allowed Cummings to pounce over the line right under his nose, but he can be forgiven that in the circumstances.
5. Grant Gilchrist– 9
A towering performance. Took some important line-out ball – including a slightly wayward throw in the lead up to the decisive try. The team’s top tackler.
6. Viliame Mata – 8
When the going got tough, the Fijian got going. Carried the ball through plenty of hard yards. Ran himself into the ground.
7. Hamish Watson – 6
Unfair to give any credence to his rating. Removed form the game in the ninth minute for Matt Shields, as a direct consequence of Berghan’s red card.
8. Cornell Du Preez– 9
A relentless thorn in the Warriors’ side.
.
– Replacements –
16. Neil Cochrane – 7
17. Murray McCallum – 7
Replaced Rory Sutherland on 46 minutes.
18. Matt Shields – 8
Was involves mush earlier than he or anyone else was expecting. Struggled in the scrum
19. Lewis Carmichael – 7
20. Jamie Ritchie – 8
Added serious energy as a 51st minute replacement.
21. Nathan Fowles – 8
Burrowed over after a powerful line-out drive from his forwards on the hour mark.
22. Chris Dean– 8
Snatched the sensational winner when he picked up at the back of a stalled line-out drive and scampered over.