Scarlets fall at Edinburgh

Edinburgh 23 Llanelli Scarlets 0

Edinburgh stepped up their home turf revival by clinically sweeping aside the challenge of Llanelli Scarlets in the Celtic League.

Frank Hadden’s men had endured a wretched first half of the season at Murrayfield – but they made it three wins on the trot to step up their quest to finish in the league’s top eight and clinch a knock-out cup place.

More importantly from an RBS 6 Nations point of view, Scotland front-liners Chris Paterson, Simon Webster and Nathan Hines emerged unscathed from their injury comebacks just two weeks before the tournament opener in Paris.

Paterson also indicated he was in deadly form with the boot by slotting five goals.

Scarlets had the better of the lively opening exchanges and winger Tal Selley looked certain to break the deadlock in the wake of a 40-metre dash.

But Gunners full-back Hugo Southwell back-tracked in lightning style to foil him with a superbly-timed tap tackle.

Llanelli kept up the pressure, but found themselves adrift following an interception by Webster deep inside his own 22 zone.

Webster was blocked out five metres from the target, but the ball was spun out to Dougie Hall via Paterson and the hooker was left with an easy path to the line.

Paterson slotted the conversion – then added a well-struck penalty after the Welshmen were accused of illegally hauling down a line-out.

Edinburgh should have scored again almost immediately when Webster surged into the 22 area, but he was unable to find support runner Marcus Di Rollo just five metres short.

And they had to rely on another interception to claim try number two.

This time it was scrum-half Mike Blair whose powers of anticipation were crucial and he was left with a cruise to the line from 30 metres out – giving Paterson a formality of a kick for the extra points.

The confidence of the Gunners was underlined in the build-up to the break when they opted to keep the ball alive at two penalties in quick succession instead of going for the posts.

Llanelli replied in positive fashion after the restart and a powerful run by Matt Watkins set up a great chance for his centre partner Mike Phillips – but referee Al McKay ruled he had held onto the ball too long on the ground.

Hines came off the bench to add some bite to the home pack, and he wasted no time in imposing himself by getting tangled up in a brawl with a rival forward.

Having been given a reprieve by Phillips, Edinburgh capitalised by adding three points to their tally with a further Paterson penalty from close range.

He added another from 25 metres to effectively snuff out any chance of a late Welsh fightback.

The strike also suggested the capital troops had given up their hopes of earning a bonus point for four tries.