Two tries from their props were enough for Edinburgh to cruise past Newport Gwent Dragons 32-13 at BT Murrayfield in the GUINNESS PRO12. WP Nel went over in the first half as the Scots led 13-6 but in the second half the Dragons paid the price for their indiscipline. They picked up four yellow cards in the second 40 minutes, with Alasdair Dickinson and then Tom Brown crossing for the home side. And Matt Scott finished the scoring in the final minute to hand Edinburgh the bonus point in front of their home fans. Edinburgh took the lead in the sixth minute with a penalty from Sam Hidalgo-Clyne but the Dragons responded in kind through Dorian Jones. Still, the home side were enjoying more territory and possession and that told midway through the half when they went over from close range. After a series of pick and drives, Nel had enough power to crash through around the fringe for his first GUINNESS PRO12 try of the season. Hidalgo-Clyne converted to stretch the lead to 10-3 to Alan Solomons’ men. The scrum-half added another penalty to push the lead to double figures, but that was matched by Jones with four minutes remaining in the half to get the Dragons back to within a score. Edinburgh will have thought they deserved to be further clear, and they looked to be over again through Nel right on the stroke of half-time. After some lovely hands and offloading between forwards and backs, Nel picked from a ruck and powered forward. He was hauled down just short and tried to reach for the line. It was clear after checking with the TMO that Nel had committed a double movement however and the try was ruled out, allowing the Dragons to escape at half-time. One area in which Edinburgh were completely dominant was at scrum-time, and that continued in the second half. A final warning for the Dragons wasn’t heeded, and Boris Stankovich was soon given ten minutes in the bin as Edinburgh continued to turn the screw through Nel. He was soon joined by his replacement Phil Price as the Dragons continued to suffer in the scrum. Edinburgh should have made them pay with one great break from Will Helu who set up Blair Kinghorn on the angle but the replacement full-back knocked on. They didn’t have to wait long for their second try though, and just as Stankovich prepared to return, opposite number Dickinson was on hand out wide on the left to just squeeze over. The punishment was doubled when the Dragons lost Jones to a yellow card for a tip tackle in the build-up, and Hidalgo-Clyne converted to make it 20-6 as Edinburgh stretched away. The Dragons coped well a man down, but just as Jones prepared to return, Nic Cudd was given a yellow card for some cynical play, and against 14 men, Hidalgo-Clyne used the overlap to send his winger Brown over. And after Will Helu had been stopped just short of the line, Scott added the fourth try, bursting through in midfield and sprinting over. But there was still time for Cudd to go over in the final minute for a consolation for the Dragons. Follow us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, sign up to ourYouTube channel for extensive match highlights and sign up for our newsletter for regular updates on the GUINNESS PRO12.
