French test is massive for Cockerill
RICHARD Cockerill insists Edinburgh will have to tire out the big beasts of Montpellier if they are to have any chance of causing a shock in this afternoon’s titanic Heineken Champions Cup tussle.
The Edinburgh head coach is aware of the imbalance of the two packs and hopes his smaller but more mobile forwards can prove themselves more durable than Vern Cotter’s gargantuan eight, which includes the sibling duo of Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis and Louis Picamoles.
‘I think they’ll come at us from everywhere, but they’ve got a forward pack that is very big and very physical, added Cockerill.
‘And if they can get on top of us up front and get their power game going, then we’ll struggle because we’re not a massive team in European terms.
‘The size of their team may count at the end, but we will see.
‘We’re not going to be able to bash, smash and outmuscle them but I expect us to compete with them for sure.
‘When we get the opportunity to kick to the corner and have a crack at them we will — and we’ll see where we get to. The average ball in play is over 40 minutes in the Pro14 and it’s just over 30 minutes in the Top14, so we’ve got to try to make that pay.
‘It’s up to us to be smart enough around the set-pieces. We need to hold our own and put them under pressure, keep the ball-in-play time high and in that create opportunities for ourselves.’
The head coach brings Matt Scott into the centre to partner James Johnstone, while Dougie Fife takes the place of the injured Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham’s spirited performance against Cheetahs last week earns him a spot on the right wing.
With the absence of Van der Merwe, Cockerill will very much be reliant on his nippy wingers to cause the Montpellier back three problems, but Edinburgh will have breathed a sigh of relief after hearing Fijian man-mountain Nemani Nadolo is ruled out through injury.
Cockerill said: ‘Dougie Fife is in for the injured van der Merwe, that’s obviously an issue for us. Matt Scott’s played well for us this year in large part, so I think we need physicality for this, it’s going to be a very physical game, so that’s why he gets back in the side.’
‘Darcy’s a great kid with a great attitude. He had his opportunity last week and he took it, so he’s been rewarded. Regardless of his size, he’s doing good things with and without the ball and is worthy of his place, and we’re looking forward to him stepping up to the next level.’ MONTPELLIER — Immelman; Fall, Ngandebe, Martin, Serfontein; Pienaar, Sanga; Nariashvili, B Du Plessis, J Du Plessis, Van Rensburg, Willemse, Ouedraogo, Liebenberg, Picamoles. EDINBURGH — Kinghorn; Graham, Johnstone, Scott, Fife; Hickey, Pyrgos; Dell, McInally, Nel, Toolis, Gilchrist, Bradbury, Watson, Mata.