A dramatic 78th minute try from flying wing Lee Jones bagged Edinburgh their first home Heineken Cup quarter-final.

It was the home side’s fourth try and clinched the bonus point they needed to stay ahead of Cardiff Blues and win Pool 2 by a point. The drama of the Heineken Cup remained right to the end as no sooner had Jones scored and skipper Greig Laidlaw converted than Blues scrum half Richie Rees dived for the line.

While the record Heineken Cup gate of 10,892 were still celebrating in the Scottish capital, they were holding their breath in Cardiff as the TMO was called into action. He ruled no try and the Blues had to make do with a 36-39 win over racing Metro 92 and four points.

It means Edinburgh will host four times champions Toulouse at Murrayfield, the team that knocked them out in their last quarter-final appearance, in April. The Blues also made it through to the last eight and will travel to Dublin to face reigning champions Leinster.

Edinburgh had to shuffle their line-up before kick-off as they lost both full back Chris Paterson (groin) and flanker David Denton (hamstring) from their selected line-up. But the changes didn’t alter the equation – Edinburgh needed a draw or win to reach the quarter-finals – or the home determination to try to clinch a home draw for the first time.

Irish took the lead through an early Adrian Jarvis penalty, but Edinburgh’s try machine, Tim Visser, steadied everyone’s nerves when he crossed for his 14th try of the season in the 12th minute as he raced onto an inch perfect grub kick from Greig Laidlaw.

The home skipper was his usual inventive self at outside half and his reliable boot added the conversion and two more penalties before the break. He also added the extras to another superb try from Paterson’s replacement at full back Jim Thompson that came after the forwards had made the hard yards through 18 phases.

That score in the 36th minute stretched the Edinburgh lead to 14 points and gave them a handy half-time lead. There was no more scoring for 25 minutes in the second half and the home defensive line was called on to stand firm.

But then replacement centre Jonathan Joseph broke the deadlock with a try for the visitors before a final rally saw outstanding No 8 Netani Talai power over and Jones add the icing on top of the cake.
Laidlaw converted both to end with another 100 per cent record with 14 points.