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Perpignan will look to bounce back from their late defeat to Gloucester when they host round one surprise package Edinburgh. - 19/10/2013 14:36
Perpignan will look to bounce back from their late defeat to Gloucester when they host round one surprise package Edinburgh.
Edinburgh’s superb 29-23 win over Munster was one of the big shocks of the opening weekend of Heineken Cup action.
It’s left Edinburgh top of Pool 6 after one game but they face a daunting trip to Perpignan on Sunday.
Perpignan full back James Hook said: “It’s a tough group that’s going to be wide open, as we’ve seen from the first round of games with the two home teams winning. This group is going to go right down to the wire.”
The French side led for much of their clash with Gloucester at Kingsholm but surrendered a second half lead to lose 27-22.
Hook added: “If we take the performance against Gloucester into Edinburgh with the crowd we’ve got there we should be okay but we can’t rest on our laurels at all.
The Heineken Cup can bring out the best and the worst in teams so the Edinburgh game is huge for us and we will have to be right on the money.
“If we think we can just turn up and win then we will come unstuck, we need to back the performance up with a win.”
Edinburgh skipper Greig Laidlaw contributed 19 points in their win over Munster and says things are starting to come together under new coach Alan Solomons.
Laidlaw said: “I didn’t like to keep asking for time, but we’re in a good place now. We are putting something together.
“The ‘pre-season’ is definitely over. We were not going to ask for that forever, but we did need time to get used to new coaches. It’s no surprise we turned up against Munster and put in a good performance.”
Résumé: Perpignan / Edinburgh Rugby - Journée 2 - 21/10/2013 10:47
Perpignan revived their Heineken Cup hopes with a bonus-point win over Edinburgh in Pool Six.
The Catalan club were left heartbroken as Gloucester snatched a slender victory at Kingsholm last weekend but they responded in perfect fashion at Stade Aime Giral.
Edinburgh had been in the driving seat, leading 7-3 at the interval thanks to Tim Visser’s try.
But Perpignan fired in the second-half and ran in four tries through Wandile Mjekevu, Joffrey Michel and Justin Purll to secure a maximum point haul.
Cornell Du Preez crossed in the closing stages but it was merely a consolation for the Scottish side who left France empty handed.
Edinburgh made a bright start at Stade Aime Giral and dominated the opening 10 minutes but it was Hook that opened the scoring.
Joaquin Dominguez saw an effort ruled out after it was adjudged he had a foot pushed into touch as he dived for the line.
But the Scots eventually opened their account when Visser to raced clear, Laidlaw slotting the conversion to hand his side a slender 7-3 lead at the break.
But Perpignan returned an altogether different team following the break. Michel crashed over the whitewash after just three minutes of the second-half and Mjekevu quickly followed suit to grab the first of his double.
Edinburgh clung on but Purll got the scoreboard ticking once again on 60 minutes with the hosts third try.
Again they struck in quick-succession with Mjekevu completing his brace to secure the all-important bonus-point, and Hook stretching his haul to 11.
To their credit, Edinburgh refused to through in the towel and Du Preez crash over at the death for a try, which Laidlaw converted.
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