Edinburgh's flair not enough to beat resilient Northampton Saints

Edinburgh scored some fantastic tries in the first half of their Heineken Cup meeting with Northampton Saints at Murrayfield on Saturday but couldnt hang on in the second half as Saints come back to take a valuable 31-27 away win.

In front of another disappointing turn out in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh produced some scintillating rugby as they tossed it about and scored three superb tries. Sadly there were just under 5000 fans on hand to witness it though, half of which were made up of the travelling Saints contingent.

Pro Alan Jacobsen scored the first for the home side which included some sharp play from Mike Blair, who looked back to his best, and a neat sidestep before diving over. The next two Edinburgh tries were try of the season contenders as backs and forwards combined to work the ball up field, offload, and stay in support.

Saints chipped away through Stephen Myler though and scored a try on the stroke of half time to keep them in the game. Their forward power proved too much in the second half and a neatly worked try, scored by Paul Diggin, gave Myler a chance to take the lead with the conversion. He did so, as well as added a late penalty to seal the win.

“We’re delighted with that win,” said Northamptons Jim Mallinder. “Edinburgh are a formidable challenge. It is a big game coming to Murrayfield, because Edinburgh have beaten some big teams here.”

Try scorer Jacobsen summed up the Edinburgh performance. “We played some great rugby in patches, our tries were brilliant with the boys doing amazing things on the ball, but we then immediately give away stupid penalties or miss easy tackles and they result is soft scores. In the second half we allowed them to strangle possession, and now we’ve got an uphill battle.”

Theres no doubt the first half was great to watch as the home side turned it on and forwards Nateni Talei and Fraser McKenzie featured prominently with some wonderful handling. Perhaps if Edinburgh Rugby can get their marketing, investment, and stadium strategies in order theyll get more fans turning up to watch the side perform.

Time:

06:04