In the early stages of the match Edinburgh seemed a little pedestrian and inaccurate. Before the opening 11 minutes had elapsed we had conceded 3 penalties, lost a lineout, threw an incomplete pass and were 0-6 down.
We even saw BBM drop a high ball which is unheard of and shortly after that Mark Bennett missed a fairly long range penalty effort. The centre charged down the Dragons drop out but in the fall out from that Edinburgh were penalised. At that point It felt like it was going to be one of those nights.
The first key moment of the game came with Vellacotts snipe a few minutes later. It brought the crowd alive and after another few phases Edinburgh got another penalty. They chose to take a quick tap and Vellacott got the finish that his earlier break deserved. Bennett kicked the extras and Edinburgh were in the lead.
Edinburgh's next try was effectively started and finished by Glen Young. He tapped back from a lineout just inside the Dragons half, took a short pass and then as Savala got close on the left wing, Young was on hand to drive over.
Frustration was clearly beginning to surface in The Dragons ranks. They had dominated the territory thus far but had conceded a load of penalties and Edinburgh’s defence had held out. The frustration became tangible shortly after the restart as the Dragons tighthead was yellow carded for a clear late tackle. Edinburgh kicked to the corner and with several advantages in hand Bennett kicked a 3 pointer to give the home side a 9 point lead at HT.
If the Vellacott break sparked the flame the contribution of Darcy Graham had it blazing. Firstly he accepted an easy run in from the pass of Chris Dean who was helping to bulk up a maul. And then only 8 minutes later the Hawick man, sporting a Cheslin Kolbe look on the night danced his way through like 30 (exaggeration for effect) Dragons defenders and scored what must have been a hugely demoralising try from the Welsh sides perspective.
In the wake of that try Blair Kinghorn was introduced to the action. His very first involvement in the game was to kick a monster 50:22 from about a foot outside Edinburgh’s own 22 that landed a good 10 yards inside The Dragons 22.
Remember, this is a player whose kicking from hand is ‘terrible’.
2nd touch? A lovely wide miss pass to Hoyland to score in the corner. Special mention to Marshall Sykes whose blind pass allowed Kinghorn the space.
Straight from the restart Edinburgh secured possession. BBM secured the ball and fed Kinghorn deep inside the Edinburgh 22. The man who had just made 2nd spot in the all time Edinburgh try scoring chart identified a gap in the defence and powered through it up to half way all the time directing his support runners before feeding Dean for a run in.
Kinghorn had been on the field 12 minutes by this point. If it hadn't been for Darcy’s breathtaking 2nd try I’d have said those 12 minutes should have been enough to give the award to Blair.
The final score - Edinburgh 44 Dragons 6
Overall an extremely satisfying display. Took a few minutes to warm up but that reassuring Edinburgh strong second half was back and functioning in high gear. A win to take to SA was the minimum we would have asked for. What we got was a bit of swagger and a defensive hold out.
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