Edinburgh 17-10 Bulls: Hosts survive late scare to beat second-bottom side

Henry Immelman's try gave Edinburgh early impetus

Edinburgh continued their encouraging start to the United Rugby Championship season as they survived a late scare to beat Bulls.

Henry Immelman's early try and three Jaco van der Walt penalties put the hosts 14-3 up by half-time.

Marcell Coetzee's try threatened to spark a Bulls revival, but Mark Bennett's penalty kept them at bay.

Madosh Tambwe had a late try ruled out by the TMO as Edinburgh held on for a second victory in four games.

• Lacklustre Glasgow beat bottom side Zebre

Mike Blair's men head to Italy to face Zebre next weekend before the international break.

The start to Edinburgh's season under new coach Blair has been a story of great promise and real frustration. Their three matches before this had yielded a win, a draw and a defeat, but that could so easily have been three straight victories.

Blair has given the Edinburgh backs a licence to play that was scarcely evident in the latter days of the Richard Cockerill regime, and that ambition paid off almost immediately here.

Magnus Bradbury made the sort of powerful surge we've seen far too infrequently from him in recent times to get Edinburgh on the front foot. When the ball was spun wide, Damien Hoyland nudged a beautifully-weighted kick through for Immelman to score.

Bradbury and back-row partner Luke Crosbie were carrying hard and making yards, and a breakdown infringement allowed Van der Walt to cancel out Chris Smith's earlier penalty for the Bulls.

Van der Walt struck twice more from the tee in quick succession to give Edinburgh a handy cushion at 14-3.

As the rain began to fall, the Bulls needed something to spark them to life. Scrum-half Embrose Papier's sniping break almost provided it, but Edinburgh's scramble defence was good enough to preserve their 11-point lead going in at the break.

Edinburgh came out in the second half looking to strike the killer blow. Stuart McInally was stopped just short of the line, and moments later James Johnstone's searing break was undone by a poor decision to kick ahead rather than look for a scoring pass.

After Ben Vellacott's electric start to his Edinburgh career, opportunities for other scrum-halves are likely to be at a premium, but Charlie Shiel did his case no harm here, looking to ignite attacks whenever he got the chance.

As the rain poured down on the synthetic surface, the ball became slipper and the game became scrappier, with both sides struggling to work their way down the field towards the red zone.

In the midst of what had descended into an arm-wrestle, Viliame Mata produced a magical offload to set Darcy Graham free, but again the move fizzled out.

It looked like the match was drifting towards its inevitable conclusion of a home win, until Coetzee powered over from close range to round off a period of Bulls pressure and bring the South African side back within four.

Bennett, taking over kicking duties from the injured Van der Walt, banged over a three-pointer to keep the visitors at arm's length.

Edinburgh survived a scare five minutes from full-time when Tambwe's try - that if converted would have levelled the match at 17-17 - was chalked off for a double-movement when touching down. A marginal call that ensured the home side held on for the win.

Edinburgh: Immelman, Graham, Bennett, Lang, Hoyland, Van Der Walt, Shiel, Schoeman, McInally, de Bruin, Sykes, Gilchrist, Bradbury, Crosbie, Mata.

Replacements: Vellacott for Lang (71), Johnstone for Van Der Walt (41), Venter for Schoeman (77), Cherry for McInally (62), Philips for de Bruin (51), Nel for Sykes (50), Boyle for Crosbie (74), Kunavula for Mata (66).

Bulls: D. Kriel, Tambwe, Hendricks, Vorster, Arendse, C. Smith, Papier, Gqoboka, du Plessis, M. Smith, Swanepoel, Nortje, Coetzee, Botha, Uys.

Replacements: Mapoe for D. Kriel (66), Steyn for C. Smith (58), W. Steenkamp for Papier (52), Matanzima for Gqoboka (59), Erasmus for du Plessis (66), Hunt for M. Smith (41), Van Vuren for Swanepoel (52), Louw for Uys (41).

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales).