Cockerill wary of returning Russell
Cockerill wary of falling under Russell’s spell
EDINBURGH head coach Richard Cockerill and Glasgow counterpart Dave Rennie have not agreed on much in the build-up to today’s derby.
They have clashed over which of the two sides has the best scrum, whether Edinburgh got enough credit for beating Glasgow 18-17 last weekend, the importance of the 1872 Cup, and which team plays the most exciting brand of rugby.
Yet the one thing they can agree on ahead of kick-off is the impact of the returning Finn Russell to the Glasgow line-up.
Rennie denied he made a costly error by not starting Russell in the defeat at Murrayfield last Saturday. Instead, he chose Peter Horne at fly-half, whose natural game is kicking rather than running with the ball.
It meant the potent Glasgow back division failed to reach their momentum even with the added advantage of playing against 14 men for much of the encounter.
Cockerill did not need the gift of foresight to know Russell would return for the game at Scotstoun this afternoon, but has warned his players of the threat the Scotland talisman carries.
‘Glasgow have made some changes, especially at 10, which makes a difference to the threat they bring,’ said Cockerill. ‘I think Finn’s a world-class player. When the ball is in his hands, he’s a threat to any defence. We saw that when he came on at the weekend and he is a major danger to us.
‘We have to be aware of him, but we are not going there to make up the numbers. They’ve got no God-given right to win. I don’t care what they say about what they’re going to do, we’re going there to do what we are going to do and go toe to toe with them.’
Rennie has instructed Russell to take risks and unlock his whole box of attacking tricks. He wants a more open and expansive game.
‘Finn is a starting international No10 and, when the game breaks up, he is lethal,’ insisted Rennie. ‘He did a couple of things at the weekend when he came on for Peter which meant we should have stolen the game against Edinburgh, but we didn’t. I am happy with the way he is going.
‘Peter started against Montpellier and he got a chance to back it up last week against Edinburgh. Look, I don’t want to spend time in media sessions berating players. If he had his time over again, Peter would have done a couple of things differently. He was frustrated a couple of times when he kicked when we needed to keep the ball in hand.
‘I have a lot of respect for Peter. He is a quality player and very professional. He will grow from that experience.
‘We contemplated putting Adam Hastings on the bench as we have been really happy with the way he has been going. He had been training well and will definitely be in the mix to take on Zebre next week, but we decided to stick with the experienced boys, Finn to start and Peter on the bench.’
The fall-out from Edinburgh’s narrow win last weekend looks set to carry into today’s encounter. Rennie has been frustrated that his side were ‘outpassioned’ by their rivals.
‘The boys are hurting about that and we are keen to redeem ourselves,’ he explained. ‘We are disappointed for the supporters because what we put on the park that night was not good enough.
‘We created a hell of a lot of opportunities and, when we took the boys back through the game and reviewed it, there were so many times when, if we’d scored, the game would have been gone. But we didn’t put them away.
‘Our defeat highlights that attitude is crucial and I just don’t think we were sharp enough. You’ve got to be clinical and take your opportunities. Edinburgh only had a couple and they got down in our corner, drove a couple of lineouts, forced a bit of pressure and won.’
For Cockerill, there remains the frustration that his players were not given the credit they deserved in victory.
‘It’s not Exciting Glasgow against Turgid Edinburgh,’ he said. ‘I think we’re playing a good brand of rugby and are scoring lots of tries. In fact, I’m pretty sure we scored as many as them when we beat them at the weekend.
‘They’ve got no God-given right to win because they’re Glasgow. I don’t care what they say about our scrum or about how poorly they played last week at Murrayfield. Or how it wasn’t about how well we played; it was how badly they played.
‘From reading all their Press, they say they’re embarrassed from their performance. But I think we can play a lot better, as well. The pressure is on them to perform.’