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Edinburgh will be looking to make sure they keep their hopes for a Heineken Cup quarter-final place on track when they travel to Paris to face Racing Metro 92 at the Stade Yves Du Manoir.
The Scottish side know they have to make it a clean sweep of three home defeats for the Parisians, both Cardiff Blues and London Irish returned home from their trip across the channel with a victory.
But Michael Bradley’s Edinburgh side don’t have a great track record on the road in Europe, having won only twice in 25 games away from home in European rugby’s premier tournament.
But the Scots will be determined to end their eight-year wait for a side from north of the border to qualify for the last eight of the Heineken Cup when they run out against one of the big guns of the Top 14.
Racing Metro, who are only in their second season in Europe, are propping up Pool 2 and will be looking to restore some pride after a disappointing campaign but they the could still have a bearing on who qualifies for the quarter-finals.
The French side play both Edinburghand the Cardiff Blues, who are level on points and battling out to qualify for the knockout stages, in their final two Pool games of this season.
PHIL GODMAN kicked a last minute drop-goal for Edinburgh to clinch victory over Racing Metro and keep them at the helm of Pool 2 in the Heineken Cup.
In a delicately poised group Edinburgh grabbed their second victory on the road in this year’s tournament to keep the pressure up on Cardiff Blues as they hunt for their first quarter-final spot in eight years.
The visitors had led for the majority of the game only to be pegged back after each time of taking the advantage.And just as the game looked destined for a draw, three tries apiece, Godman struck to clinch only their second victory on French soil.
Both sides battled for early dominance but neither could find their early rhythm and Juan Martin Hernandez and Greg Laidlaw’s early missed shots at goal kept the game scoreless.
Chabal’s powerful early breaks provided some spark but the game really kicked into gear when Ross Rennie crossed for the opening score.Quick ball from the base Mike Blair initiated things and Rennie was then fed in midfield and he didn’t need a second invitation to barge through the weak defence to run in under the posts for a converted score.
Tackling in the midfield was again questionable for Racing’s opening try.Edinburgh had repelled their hosts repeated efforts well until Fabrice Estebanez created a hole in midfield and offloaded to Francois Steyn who dived over.Hernandez had no problems with his second shot at goal, leveling the scores with the conversion.
After the clear determination to respond immediately Racing seemed to take their foot off the gas and with Edinburgh in confident mood there was only ever one who were going to score next.
A quick attack down the blindside set up field position and then Edinburgh bided their time before Netani Talei broke through and the stretched over the line to grab a second try for Scots.Captain Laidlaw added the conversion to give his side a healthy advantage at the break.
With Cardiff Blues not playing until Saturday this was an ideal opportunity for Edinburgh to lay down a marker after the break but their lead lasted just two second half minutes.Juan Imhoff made a mockery of the covering defence, firstly out sprinting them down the blindside before rounding Chris Paterson with ease to level the score.
Rather than consolidate after scoring, Racing immediately started looking for their next score and switched off in defence.This allowed David Denton to sprint clear, galloping to the line for the game’s fifth try. The flanker’s touchdown completed a try apiece for the visiting back-row but Racing wanted the next score and they got it again with resistance.
Whilst both sides offered flair to entertain on a cold Parisian night, defence wasn’t a priority.And bringing the memories flooding back from Murrayfield, the game was soon rewarded with its sixth try as Antoine Battut touchdown after an attack that always looked destined to end with try. Hernandez again leveled things, this time from the touchline before making way for Jonathan Wisniewski.
Wisniewski missed the chance to edge his side in front just minutes after coming on with a long range kick drifting wide, but the fly-half had no problem with his second effort sailing over.
Laidlaw responded with three points of his own two minutes later and then Godman struck just before the final whistle dropping Edinburgh to victory.
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