Edinburgh sealed Champions Cup quarter-final places for themselves and Glasgow with a 19-10 victory over Montpellier.
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The win secured top spot in Pool 5 and a home contest for Richard Cockerill’s side in the last eight, and ensured Glasgow will finish as one of the three best runners-up even if they lose their group decider against Saracens in London day.
Darcy Graham’s try just after the hour mark was reward for a spell of intense pressure that proved the key passage of play in front of 11,802 fans at BT Murrayfield – a Scottish record for a European pool match. Montpellier, coached by former Scotland head coach Vern Cotter, had got themselves back in the contest having been trailing to three penalties from Jaco van der Walt with a try from Jacques Du Plessis on the stroke of half-time.
But the penalty that put them ahead in the second half jolted the hosts back into the ascendancy and they went on to seal an historic achievement for Scottish rugby as both clubs reached the knockout stages of Europe’s premier competition for the first time together.
Edinburgh made the better start and Van Der Walt kicked two penalties as the pressure forced the visitors into infringements.
Montpellier began to settle but their only flash of creativity, when Johan Goosen kicked the ball into the path of winger Henry Immelman, was met by excellent tackles from both Blair Kinghorn and Graham.
Edinburgh lost Scotland flanker Hamish Watson to injury but they went further ahead when Van Der Walt dispatched the second of two penalties near the 40-metre line, after Jacques Du Plessis had swung an arm at WP Nel without further punishment.
Bismarck Du Plessis also evaded action after pushing an Edinburgh physio as he tried to retrieve the ball in touch, and the visitors made the most of their first penalty of the game in the final seconds of the half.
Ruan Pienaar took it quickly inside the 22 and Jacques Du Plessis was adjudged by the TMO to have touched down inches over the line.
The French side maintained the momentum and Pienaar kicked them ahead seven minutes after the restart.
But Edinburgh soon turned things round as they stepped up the tempo. Van Der Walt’s kick beyond the try-line was snuffed out by Pienaar, Duhan Van Der Merwe burst past three players before being stopped and the pressure eventually told when Montpellier conceded a penalty at a driving maul five metres out. Van Der Walt restored the hosts’ lead.
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Edinburgh continued to stretch Montpellier and, after several near misses from a series of rucks near the line, Henry Pyrgos fed Graham to cross on the right flank and Van Der Walt added the extra points.
On Glasgow’s qualification, Cockerill joked: “There’s always one down side to the evening, isn’t there?
“I enjoy the rivalry and the rivalry is going to get stronger and better.
“But it’s great for Scottish rugby. We have got two teams in the quarter-finals. There is a lot of good things happening in the Scottish game, so let’s enjoy it.”
There was one real down side for Scottish rugby, though, as the flanker Watson emerged as a major doubt for much of the Six Nations.
“We think it is a broken bone (in the hand), which is disappointing to say the least,” Cockerill said.
In the other Pool Five match Toulon edged an entertaining but meaningless clash at Newcastle 27-24. There were six scintillating tries shared in an exciting, error-strewn match, including two in the opening five minutes and three more in a frantic three-minute spell late in the second half. Newcastle fought back from 20-10 down to lead 24-20, only to immediately concede a heart-breaking winning try to Bastien Soury.
Northampton and Harlequins through
In the Challenge Cup Northampton ran in an extraordinary 17 tries in thrashing Romanian minnows Timisoara Saracens 111-3 at Franklin’s Gardens. Northampton qualify for the quarter-finals along with Harlequins, who won 33-17 at Agen.