Cockerill hoping scrum crisis won’t turn into a drama
THERE’S a frontrow crisis afflicting Edinburgh and, therefore, Scotland at present. It remains to be seen just how damaging it could be.
In recent seasons, the club from the capital has propped up the national team at the front of the scrum but, in the here and now, there’s a hefty list of absentees.
Current Scotland internationals Darryl Marfo, Allan Dell, Alasdair Dickinson, W P Nel and Simon Berghan are all unavailable through either injury or suspension.
With the Six Nations just a few weeks away, Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has his concerns.
New faces may need to be blooded. Richard Cockerill faces a similar dilemma, although he has a shallower back-up pool to dip into.
Ahead of tonight’s European Challenge Cup match against Stade Francais, the Edinburgh boss has been forced to name four second-string props in his squad. Rory Sutherland and Murray McCallum start, with Matt Shields and Kevin Bryce, who has spent most of the season playing for Hawick, on the bench.
Cockerill was so concerned he also made a last-ditch attempt to have Jordan Lay, who only signed for the club 12 days ago, registered for the match, only to be knocked back by European Rugby chiefs because he applied too late.
‘We made an official request and asked to bring our prop Jordan Lay in as an extra player because of extreme circumstances, but were told that’s not part of the regulations and it wasn’t allowed,’ said Cockerill.
‘The rules are the rules. You have to go by them. Our injury issues and suspension issues are pretty unusual. That is just how it is. We have to get on with it.
‘In saying that, if somebody gets injured tonight or some other stage, we would have one less prop in the squad for next week against Stade. We could have to go uncontested (scrums) if there was a further problem but let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.’
Out of the four props available, Scotland international Sutherland at the loose-head is the most experienced. McCallum is a young up-and-coming loosehead who is having to play on the tight-head. His inexperience in that position will make him a target for the French pack. On the bench is Shields, the former Rotherham player who had been playing in the lower reaches of the English Championship up until early December when he signed for Edinburgh.
The other replacement, Bryce, has hardly featured all season with a candid Cockerill admitting he is only in the squad because nobody else is registered.
‘Kevin had some injury issues at the start of the season and during the season,’ he continued. ‘Up until this point, he has not been able to force his way into the 23.
‘This is an opportunity for him but, at this point, he hasn’t played well enough to get into the side.’
Cockerill’s concern over his props has dictated his tactics, with him making it clear he can’t allow his team to get bogged down in a forwards battle or spend too much time at the scrum. He said: ‘The French league is a very physical competition and we don’t want to get into an arm wrestle and have a huge forwards contest.
‘We are going to play like we have been playing. We will do what we want to do, which is play ball in hand on a great pitch in half-decent weather.
‘We will try and impose our style on them. We know if we end up in a ball-up-the-jumper type game, with the forwards dominating and lots of scrums, we might lose that type of game.
‘They have named a very big, combative forward pack and a very strong side overall.
‘Our aim is to win and to secure a home semi-final, which would mean the final game against them in Paris would not matter in terms of qualification.
‘That won’t be easy as we are taking on one of the real powerhouses of European rugby. For us to get that win, we need to play smart and make sure we play with a tempo and pace we want and make life uncomfortable for them.’
That is very much within Edinburgh’s capabilities as they are the form team out of the two going into the match.
They are the only club with a maximum haul of 20 points in either the Challenge or Champions Cup.
They have the best attack (238 points scored) and the meanest defence (48 points conceded) which has them eight points clear in Pool 4.
For all their front row problems, they have a strong back division. The half-back partnership of Jaco van der Walt at fly-half and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne has been working well and will provide quick ball.
Blair Kinghorn is being tipped for a Scotland call-up following his performances at full-back, with centre Mark Bennett having a chance to sneak into Townsend’s squad after playing his first game in ten months last week after injury.
‘It is great getting Mark back and having him available for the game tonight,’ said Cockerill. ‘He played well and got some good touches in his comeback match.
‘There were a couple of errors in his game but considering how long he had been out, I thought he played well. It will be a tougher test for him against Stade and hopefully he steps up in performance again.’