Blair encouraged by display of squad depth
WHAT do you do when you rest six key players from a game and the team you put out wins in style? The first reaction might be to rejoice at the depth of your squad. A more considered response would be to think long and hard about selection for your next game.
Mike Blair certainly appears to have a lot of thinking to do before settling on his matchday 23 to face Benetton in the URC on Friday after his makeshift Edinburgh side defeated the Dragons 30-14 at Rodney Parade at the weekend.
Not only did the visitors win with a bonus point, they played some outstanding attacking rugby, especially in a first half which saw new boys Emiliano Boffelli and Ramiro Moyano score three tries between them. They left it late to get the try bonus, with Damien Hoyland touching down in the 80th minute, but it was an impressive performance all the same – one in which some of the supposed stand-ins played central roles.
In the back row, for example, Magnus Bradbury played one of his best matches in years, Nick Haining was very prominent with ball in hand, and Luke Crosbie was named man of the match for his vital contribution at the breakdown. In normal circumstances, Edinburgh’s first-choice back row is usually thought of as Jamie Ritchie, Hamish Watson and Bill Mata, so Blair faces some tough choices ahead of the visit of the Italians to the DAM Health Stadium.
The head coach has a similar difficulty in the back three, where Boffelli, Moyano and Hoyland not only scored all the tries but were also responsible for creating some of their team’s most promising attacks. Does Blair leave Darcy Graham on the sidelines along with the likes of Henry Immelman and Jack Blain, and say ‘same again’ to the two Argentina internationals and Scotland winger Hoyland?
Up front, loosehead prop Pierre Schoeman and secondrow Grant Gilchrist look the most likely to return of the six who sat out the Dragons game, but there are no guarantees. Blair suggested yesterday that each one of the halfdozen would have his merits considered, but made it clear that some of them would be disappointed.
“They’ll all come back into contention, definitely,” he said. “We’ve a good idea what we
want to do with the players. Some guys will definitely look to come back in, but other guys who played really well on Saturday will get another opportunity.
“In terms of selection, giving guys the opportunity to show they’re an important part of the squad and can push for starting places was really important. That was the most pleasing thing about Saturday.
“The next bit was the physicality and intent that we showed. We’ve talked a lot about the way we want to play, but you can’t do that unless you’re physical and show intent.”
With Jaco van der Walt still out injured, Blair Kinghorn is set to continue at stand-off on Friday, although the Scotland back believes that his ability to play across the back line remains an important asset. “I feel like I’m playing really well at 10, and that’s where I’m more seen at Edinburgh,” Kinghorn said. “But I have the ability to play in other positions. In the Japan game I think I was covering five positions, so still being able to have that versatility and switch in and out is really good.
“I feel like I’m finding my feet a little bit more at 10,” he added. “It’s obviously challenging, because I played 10 for Scotland for 60 minutes of the Tonga game and that was it for the rest of the campaign. Then coming back here, getting back in at 10 at training was a little bit different. But I’m really enjoying it.”
Edinburgh’s team to play Benetton will be announced on Thursday. Anyone who predicts it entirely correctly can consider themselves to have psychic powers.
Meanwhile, URC has brought two South African derbies forward to this weekend as it tries to deal with the effects of the new Covid travel restrictions imposed by both the European Union and the United Kingdom. The Sharks will now play the Bulls on Friday evening, while the Stormers will take on the Lions the following afternoon. Both matches were originally scheduled to take place in February 2022.
All matches last weekend and this involving the four South African teams had to be postponed by the URC after new quarantine restrictions were announced by the EU and UK in response to the omicron variant of Covid. The European teams who were due to play there all hoped to return home before those restrictions came into effect, but while Scarlets and Zebre succeeded, last night Cardiff and Munster were still in South Africa after positive cases in their camps.
We’ve talked a lot about the way we want to play, but you can’t do that unless you’re physical