Edinburgh v Glasgow 30/12/22
The last chance saloon
A hard fact to kick this column off. Edinburgh will not win the 2022-2023 URC. If that’s come as a shock to you I can only apologise.
If we accept this to be true then this weekends 1872 Cup match decider, complete with shiny new trophy, represents our last chance of silverware this season unless of course you count the Scots/Italian shield which I certainly don’t.
You may be sitting thinking, What’s he on about, we were never in with a shout of that? But I genuinely thought it was possible and at worst case I didn’t think our league campaign would be solely about the minor placings before the end of the calendar year.
With round 11 already underway and despite managing to secure a LBP last week we have unfortunately plummeted all the way to 10th in the league as a result of our defeat to our oldest rivals. On one hand it’s not a fatal fall as Benetton, Lions, Sharks and said Glasgow are all on the same 24 point ledge.
The other side of that is that Munster are only 2 points behind us and have a game in hand.
The big worry however is that despite having the second highest BP total and being second only to Leinster in the try scoring chart only 4 teams have less points than us. Only Zebre have conceded more penalties (Edinburgh 107, Zebre 113)
We are on the cusp.
A win will take us back above Glasgow and potentially as high as 6th depending on other results. It will also mean we retain the 1872 cup as long as the winning margin is more than 6 points. It will also be a badly needed confidence booster going into 2023.
Lose and the cup goes west. Lose and we'll probably be 11th before the bells. Lose and that unwavering support I keep hearing about may just wobble after all.
Putting that silverware to one side for the moment this game is also important because the gate money it generates goes a long way to paying the wage bill. Indeed, Mike Blair, perhaps jokingly, when asked why the game wasn’t being played at The DAM replied, “we have to pay for Duhan somehow”.
Joking or not there may be something in there for some to reflect on even as their thoughts drift in the direction of the 6N and The World Cup.
So, what went wrong last week?
Glasgow clearly targetted the breakdown and with some considerable success. They recorded 8 turnovers and it seemed that at every ruck they managed to disrupt and slow our exit even if they didn’t actually get possession. That allowed their defence to get organised and with so many of our creative players absent our attack was stymied.
I said that Richie Gray could be a problem and it came to pass. If only I had the same fortune at the bookies.
We did have dominance at scrum time especially in the first half not that you’d believe it from the referees interpretation. However this only goes to show that scrum superiority is now so subjective that to rely on it is folly.
But for all the above we were only those 2 missed penalties from being level and just as an aside, can you imagine the furore if it had been Kinghorn that missed those kicks? Now we know the tactics perhaps we can adapt or put strategies in place to deal with them. To be blunt a little more accuracy from the team as a whole should be enough to turn things around.
This list of stats kind of sums up that lack of accuracy in comparison to Glasgow.
The team announcement came as a real fillip in the light of these concerns. The return of Bennett, Crosbie, Skinner, and Kinghorn represent a significant uplift in quality, invention and abrasiveness. I’ll leave it to you to decide who brings what in that list though.
Goosen being fit to start is also a bonus if for no other reason than it allows the Boff to return to his best position of fullback.
The omission of Schoeman from the starting XV is a surprise but he’ll no doubt have an impact in the second half against the much taller Berghan. And if Sam Grove-White is reading this, unlikely I know, watch for that right knee of Berghans’ it spends most of it’s time on the ground.
Pyrgos to 9 is more up for debate. Vellacott isn’t on the injured list so this is either tactical or perhaps he is being rested having started the last 4 games after returning from an injury, who knows? I’ve been waffling on about accuracy so perhaps the clue is there.
Our rivals make 2 changes to their starting XV, with Price taking over from Horne and Ollie Smith starting at fullback in place of Josh McKay who drops out of the matchday squad.
I can’t let the chance go past to laud the work the club have done to retain Emiliano Boffelli for a further two years. I’ve no doubt he had offers but he’s staying and we get to continue brag about this kind of thing. Good job everyone and thanks.
It looks being a record crowd at BTM for this one. I should be wishing for a great game of rugby. One that might encourage the casual attendees to pitch up more often but frankly I’ll take a win. A 7 point win to be precise but the game itself can be as dour as The Rev IM Jolly before he gets a wee drink inside him. I don’t give a dram.
See you all at BTM.