European Challenge Cup: Sam Hidalgo-Clyne stars as Edinburgh reach quarter-finals
Last Updated: 23/01/15 10:31pm
Edinburgh booked their place in the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup with a 38-20 victory over Bordeaux-Begles at Murrayfield.
Sam Hidalgo-Clyne celebrated his call up to Scotland’s Six Nations squad with a man-of-the-match performance as he scored two tries and a total of 28 points to secure top spot in Pool 4 for Edinburgh and prevent the French side from overtaking them at the summit.
Scrum-half Hidalgo-Clyne opened the scoring with a seventh-minute penalty and he was then denied a try by a careless pass from David Denton when well-placed to score.
Bordeaux drew level with a 24th-minute penalty from Lionel Beauxis but the home side were back in front three minutes later when Hidalgo-Clyne jinked over for a try from close range after fine work by the forwards with a well-composed maul.
The 21-year-old missed his conversion attempt but two further penalties sandwiched one from Beauxis to hand Edinburgh a 14-6 lead at the interval.
Another Hidalgo-Clyne penalty after the restart extended that advantage before a rampaging break from prop Alasdair Dickinson presented Matt Scott with a 52nd-minute try after he was held up on the line, Hidalgo-Clyne converting this time.
The visitors put themselves back in the game three minutes later when replacement Pierre Bernard’s grubber-kick set up a try for Baptiste Serin which Bernard converted.
But Edinburgh quickly regained the upper hand when Willem Nel bulldozed his way over in the 57th minute after Tim Visser had split the visitors’ defence following a superb pass by Hidalgo-Clyne, who added the conversion.
Good work by Douglas Fife and Nel then presented Hidalgo-Clyne with the chance to burrow across the line in the 69th minute for his second try and a bonus point for Edinburgh, with his conversion taking his personal points tally to 28 before he was replaced.
Edinburgh then took their foot off the gas in the closing stages and allowed Bernard to chip through for a try under the posts which he converted.
