Edinburgh too good for Ospreys

Edinburgh 24 Ospreys 18

Simon Taylor scored a try to mark his comeback as Edinburgh gave coach Frank Hadden a winning farewell at Murrayfield as he prepares to take the Scotland reins.

Breakaway forward Taylor – returning after the hamstring problems which wrecked his Lions tour – claimed Edinburgh’s second touchdown to set up the triumph over the Celtic League champions.

The Gunners got off to a woeful start with centre Marcus Di Rollo in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

His sequence of misery began after 62 seconds when he backed off a tackle on Sonny Parker, who surged into enemy territory. With the other markers isolated, there was plenty of time and space for Parker to release Richard Mustoe, who delivered the scoring pass to South African star Stefan Terblanche. Matthew Jones added the conversion.

Di Rollo missed another straightforward challenge almost immediately afterwards – then the Gunners were lucky not to fall further behind when his floated pass was intercepted.

Two more reprieves were enjoyed by shaky Edinburgh as Jones wasted back-to-back penalty attempts, and having weathered the storm they showed signs of getting their act together midway through the half.

Prop Allan Jacobsen powered into the danger zone and the pressure forced the Welshmen to surrender a penalty. From the line-out, the pack mauled forward and after a charge by Taylor it was Al Dickinson who reached the line from close range.

The kick was from the widest possible angle, but Chris Paterson hit the target to give his side an injection of confidence.

They stepped up the pace and snatched the lead with a Paterson penalty from a much easier position in the shadow of the posts.

But the Ospreys staged a breakout in the build-up to the interval and levelled the issue again thanks to a debatable penalty by Jones for a mystery tackle offence.

Gunners came back out in eager mood and within two minutes they had surged back in front with Taylor’s effort.

Hugo Southwell did the initial damage by finding a long touch from his own 22. Scott Murray stole the line-out and galloped towards the line before being blocked.

Rob Dewey got even closer and when the ball was slickly recycled, Taylor was perfectly positioned to finish, giving Paterson a formality of a kick.

The visitors clawed back five points almost immediately as Johnny Vaughton’s pace stretched the Edinburgh defence, enabling Jones to squeeze over in the corner.

Gunners recaptured the initiative with a wonderful solo try by Dewey, who battered through two defenders on the halfway line before thundering to the line. Paterson’s third conversion opened up a nine-point gap.

Jones scored a last-gasp penalty for Ospreys.