Krasny Yar 14
Edinburgh 73
TEN-TRY Edinburgh Rugby shrugged off the perils of a trip into the unknown –freezing weather, flurries of snow and a Krasny Yar side buoyed by an impressive start to the competition –to take all five points from their European Challenge Cup tie at the Fili Stadium in Moscow. Edinburgh’s dominance was evidenced by the deluge of yellow cards that resulted in the home side having four men despatched to the sin bin at various times.
After a week in which events off the field dominated the news, it would have been a relief for Richard Cockerill to finally focus on the task in hand. It was clear from the outset that the players had a similar approach and they wasted no time in imposing themselves on opponents who had issued a warning the previous week with a win over defending champions Stade Francais.
Edinburgh won an early scrum and that created the platform for Blair Kinghorn to race in for the opening try after only two minutes. Jason Tovey added the extras.
Krasny’s success the previous week had rested on their ability to respond immediately when their opponents claimed points. But they were unable to do so on this occasion and it was the away side that added to their tally in the seventh minute when Sam Hidalgo-Clyne darted in and Tovey again slotted the conversion.
And the early onslaught yielded a third try after only 12 minutes, this time Lewis Carmichael running onto a pass from Junior Rasolea and powering over. Tovey maintained his kicking accuracy to add the extra two points.
Edinburgh were already on the hunt for the four try bonus although the hosts did offer an insight into the physical style they bring to the game with a series of assaults on the visiting teams line, but that ultimately came to nothing.
Cockerill was forced to reshuffle his half-backs when Tovey left the field injured and was replaced at stand-off by Hidalgo-Clyne, with Nathan Fowles taking over at scrum half.
The bonus point try duly arrived ten minutes before the break when a powerful surge from the Edinburgh pack allowed skipper Neil Cochrane to apply the final touch. Hidalgo-Clyne booted the conversion then added a penalty to leave Edinburgh 31-0 ahead at the interval.
Murray McCallum entered the fray as the game restarted and he quickly made his presence felt as he emerged from a heap of bodies to claim Edinburgh’s fifth try, leaving Hidalgo-Clyne a straightforward conversion. And the 21 year old prop made it a double shortly afterwards when he stretched out to touch down against the post. Hidalgo-Clyne’s conversion brought the 50 point mark into view.
With the result beyond doubt, Cockerill took the opportunity to make several changes, with Viliame Mata making his first appearance of the season as a replacement for Cornell Du Preez and Kinghorn switching to stand off after Glenn Bryce took the place of Hidalgo-Clyne.
Edinburgh took their tally past the half century when the referee awarded a seven-point penalty try after the hosts collapsed a maul as the visitors drove towards the line.
However, the Russians were not yet ready to throw in the towel and they claimed a converted score just after the hour when Evgeni Kolomiytsev sprinted in at the corner, and Lasha Malaguradze added the extras.
The Edinburgh response was immediate and it came in the form of a fine solo effort by Kinghorn who stepped through the Yar defence for a self-converted touchdown.
Blair Kinghorn – Edinburgh full back dives over the line for the first try of the match.Image: ©Fotosport/David Gibson
And the visitors took the try tally to nine when Fraser McKenzie dotted down with ten minutes left to play, Kinghorn again converting. The points kept on coming and Stuart McInally took the try total into double figures shortly before full-time, with Kinghorn’s conversion taking the points haul to 73.
The home side had the last word when Andrei Kondakov dotted down in the final minute and Malaguradze converted.
Teams –
Krasny Yar: V Artemyev (c); R Iagudin, I Galinovskiy, L Malaguradze, V Chaban; F Apikotoa (K Golosnitskii 66), V Dorofeev (E Kolomiytsev 47); S Fukofuka (G Tsnobiladze 51), J Bregvadze (A Kondakov 51), A Bitiev (M Tsiklauri 51), A Mahu, A Garbuzov (E Zykov 66), V Gresev, V Arhip, A Ilin (A Khudiakov 51).
Edinburgh Rugby: B Kinghorn; D Hoyland, J Johnstone, J Rasolea (C Dean 55), T Brown; J Tovey (N Fowles 25), S Hidalgo-Clyne (G Bryce 55); D Marfo (M McCallum 40), N Cochrane (c) (S McInally 64), WP Nel (S Berghan 40), A Bresler, G Gilchrist (F McKenzie 51), L Carmichael, L Crosbie, C Du Preez (V Mata 54).
Scorers –
Edinburgh: Tries; Kinghorn 2, Hidalgo-Clyne, Carmichael, Cochrane; McCallum 2, Penalty Try, McKenzie, McInally; Cons; Tovey 3, Hidalgo-Clyne 3, Kinghorn 3; Penalty; Hidalgo-Clyne/
Krasny Yar: Tries; Kolomiytsev, Kondakov; Consversions; Malaguradze 2.
Scoring Sequence (Krasny Yar first) 0-5, 0-7, 0-12, 0-14, 0-19, 0-21, 0-26, 0-28, 0-31 (h-t) 0-36, 0-38, 0-43, 0-45, 0-52, 5-52, 7-52, 7-57, 7-59, 7-64, 7-66, 7-71, 7-73, 12-73, 14-73
Yellow Cards –
Krasny Yar: Artemyev, Malaguradze, Chaban, Garbuzov
Referee – T Charabas (France)
Man-of-the-Match: On a hazardous away trip it was essential to score first and quell the home side’s enthusiasm. Blair Kinghorn rose to that task before dotting down for a second time with a fine solo effort late in the game after switching to stand off.
Talking Point: Winning away from home is the key to success in European competition. With two impressive performances on the road, Edinburgh are now perfectly placed to challenge for a place in the knockout phase.