Believers in sporting karma perhaps had their faith reinforced on Saturday as Edinburgh followed Glasgow in suffering a Pro14 bonus point loss.
Scottish Rugby’s chairman had, only the previous day, responded to a summer of heavy criticism of his organisation, by expressing his on-going pride, but the on-field fall was alarming as their two professional teams conceded a total of 10 tries, going down with little more than a whimper in Port Elizabeth and Dublin.
Admittedly, in contrast to the way Glasgow’s unbeaten record ended, Edinburgh’s head coach Richard Cockerill was entitled to claim that his team avoided embarrassment at European Champions Cup and Pro14 double winners Leinster.
On another weekend that reinforced the impression of growing competition with a league that has previously been more of a development competition, the 31-7 victory registered by the champions, led for the first time this season by Johnny Sexton, was one of the day’s more predictable outcomes.
However, the red card shown to Edinburgh’s replacement Pierre Schoeman only added to the pain of defeat for his side, not least since, for all that some felt his dismissal was harsh, the prop’s past disciplinary record, having been banned early this year for biting an opponent in South Africa, could mean he faces a lengthy suspension as a result.
Edinburgh had already conceded the bonus point, Sexton inevitably clinching it with their fourth try and converting it to complete a personal 16 point haul after first half tries from Fergus McFadden and James Lowe and another after the break from Jordan Larmour.
Garry Ringrose subsequently rounded off the scoring against the 14 men, but his side having gone in just 12-0 down, Magnus Bradbury got them within a score early in the second half with a try converted by Jaco van der Walt, offering some credence to Cockerill’s suggestion that the final scoreline had flattered the home side after he had chosen to leave a string of first choice players out of his starting line-up.
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