Edinburgh Rugby left to lament familiar failings by clinical Connacht as season now rests on Europe

Edinburgh's WP Nel and Boan Venter look dejected after the game in Connacht.

This was a performance that aptly summed up Edinburgh’s frustrating season as they let chances slip at the Sportsground in Galway and were then scorched by a clinical Connacht in an entertaining ten-try clash that ended 41-26 to the home team.

The loss, their fourth in a row in the URC, leaves Edinburgh’s season hanging on a Champions Cup win away to Leicester Tigers next weekend but head coach Mike Blair knows this performance won’t cut it either in Welford Road. “We are really disappointed,” said Blair. “We didn’t play at the level we expected and we paid the price for that. We have got to look at that, we need to sharpen up and make opportunities count but we turned over the ball far too easily. We were in a good position at 15-7 approaching half-time but then gave away a try and that really left us with too much to do.”

Edinburgh enjoyed 64 per cent possession against the breeze in the opening half but still went in trailing 20-7 at the interval.