The night started on a comical moment as Connacht captain Jack Carty thought he was leading Connacht out from the tunnel only to turn round at the halfway line to see his compatriots still hovering in the tunnel. It may have been an omen as to how the game was going to go for them but you wouldn't have known it after the early salvos.
My on the spot reaction to the opening 28 minutes of the game was that Edinburgh had been woeful. A fair few handling errors, some penalties and a yellow card for Kunavula seemed to sum up this period. In hindsight Connacht had been in charge of that period but had failed through a combination of their own errors and Edinburgh’s good defence to really take advantage of their superior possession.
And then on 29 minutes Pyrgos went up the short side after a lineout on the Connacht 22. He fed Kinghorn who dummied, stepped and then offloaded in the tackle to Boffelli who dived for the corner.
He then, unaffected by either the stadium announcer or the match commentator mistaking him for Moyano (hint - he had the leggings on) stroked over the first of 8 conversions on the night.
4 minutes later the very next Edinburgh attack led to the second try. Kinghorn drew his man, popped a pass to Dean coming from deep and he in turn passed to Immleman who dissected the 3 Connacht defenders to score.
That gave Edinburgh the lead and they never took the foot off the gas till the final whistle.
Dave Cherry gave us a 2 score lead just before half time with a powerful maul drive from about 10 yards out.
The noose tightened on Connacht right from the 2nd half kick off. Another of Blair Kinghorn’s high restarts allowed Lang to regain possession for the home side and a few phases ensued before Kinghorn picked out Muncaster hovering in the centre with a flat pass that again parted the Connacht defence like the red sea. The big flanker drew the Connacht fullback before giving the scoring pass to Kinghorn who went in under the posts.
Edinburgh’s 7th bonus point of the season came in the 51st minute.
A lovely no look pass from Chris Dean found Kinghorn. He delayed a moment which confused the nearest defender who tackled Kunavula without the ball. Kinghorn then fed Moyano who had an easy run in for his 7th try of the season.
Immelman’s second on the night was up next. Quick hands from Kinghorn to Dean who hit the fullback who was coming from deep with a lovely looping pass and he went over in the corner.
Match points long since secured MIke Blair took the opportunity to empty the Edinburgh bench as all 7 remaining replacements took to the field. Among them academy prospects Rudi Brown and Jamie Campbell.
A few minutes later Glen Young powered over from close range for the penultimate score on the night.
Edinburgh administered the coup de grace of a 50 point drubbing to Connacht as the game wound down. Edinburgh won a scrum on Connachts 10 metrre line. Vellacott fed Kinghorn who had motored in from the right wing. He passed to Dean who cut an incisive line up to the Connacht 22 before giving the ball back to Vellacott to score.
Fun facts
The attendance was 6116. A record in the league at the DAM and only 46 short of the overall record from the game v Brive
Edinburgh have 7 try bonus points. Only Leinster are matching that.
Its the first time in at least 10 years that Edinbjurgh have hit an Irish province for 50+ points
Edinburgh are the only side in the URC to have scored 8 tries in a match this season
As a result Boffelli’s 8 conversions are also a league record this season
We are still unbeaten at the DAM Health
I said in my column in the match programme that we had been lacking cohesion but hoped it was coming.
I said that if we could get our attack game going we’d win.
I’d highlighted Muncaster and Boyle as having really impressed.
I’ve been all over Twitter trying to convince Scottish rugby followers that Blair Kinghorn is a good 10.
I was right on all counts but didn’t see a performance of this stature coming. I had Edinburgh by 6 on Superbru.
It’s a good day to be an Edinburgh supporter.
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