Edinburgh coach hails Heineken Cup thriller

Edinburgh staged a sensational late rally to win at Murrayfield

Head coach Michael Bradley praised a wonderful contest after his Edinburgh side triumphed 48-47 in a breathless Heineken Cup clash with Racing Metro.

The Murrayfield match produced 11 tries, with the home team running in the final four to edge home.

"You won't get a better game of rugby this year," enthused Bradley. "What a treat to be involved.

"You might say a draw would've been a fair result, maybe 50 each but we'll take 48-47."

Dutch winger Tim Visser, who will qualify to play for Scotland at the end of the season, scored Edinburgh's first and sixth tries as they claimed a second win from two Pool Two games following last weekend's success at London Irish.

The hosts scored 17 points in the opening 10 minutes but conceded 28 unanswered points and were trailing by 20 with 14 minutes remaining before an incredible late rally.

Netani Talei, Tom Brown, Roddy Grant and Greig Laidlaw, who added six conversions and two penalties, also crossed for tries.

"Racing were stunning in attack," added Bradley. "It was just so hard to defend them."

But the French side tired and the sin-binning of replacement Jone Qovu 11 minutes from time was key as Edinburgh triumphed.

Edinburgh could have lost the match with the final move, but Juan Martin Hernandez scuffed his drop-goal attempt.

"That was important as well," Bradley admitted.

"It would've been difficult (to lose), but it was equally as difficult for Racing - they scored 47 points and didn't win a match away from home, playing fantastic rugby.

"Racing are fantastic going forward, but defensively you tend to see them in unusual positions.

"We were aware there was potential to have space behind their backline when they move forward.

"It was nice to see those first two tries go in and then all of a sudden we got blown off the pitch."

Try-scorer Grant revealed that Edinburgh had discussed the possibility of Racing Metro fading and was full of praise for the tenacity of his team-mates.

"It's one of the best wins of my whole career," he told BBC Radio Scotland.

"I don't think I've played in a quicker game, it was incredible.

"Last week we had a really good display in the second half and we did it again tonight.

"They have a massive pack and we thought they might slow up a bit in the second half and our game plan was to keep the ball going, keep the intensity up.

"We didn't want to go set-piece to set-piece, line-out to scrum, with it slowing down and we managed to keep the phases going.

"It meant a lot of hard work but it paid off.

"To back up last week's win was the most important thing."