Cockerill needs win as Gilchrist returns
Chance to go one better in 2022 fuels Clyne’s desire despite debilitating year
EDINBURGH may have only got four players back from Scotland as opposed to Glasgow’s nine for this weekend’s games, but at this stage of the season Richard Cockerill is grateful for all the help he can get.
The pressure is on the head coach’s team as they take on Scarlets in a crunch PRO14 Conference B match this afternoon, and, while he would have liked more key men released by the national squad, he knows that those he has received could play a crucial role in a contest which will itself have a big influence on Edinburgh’s hopes of finishing in the top three, Champions Cup places.
“We need to win,” Cockerill said. “We need to win the next two weekends [Benetton are next up] to put us in a position to catch the teams above us. Then we’ve got Connacht, Cardiff and then the day after the final we play in the last round, against Dragons.
“We’re running out of games to catch up. So from now on in, we need as many points as possible.”
Three of the returning quartet are in Cockerill’s starting line-up for the clash with the third-placed Welsh side, who are 11 points clear of Edinburgh but have played two games more. Darcy Graham returns on the wing, Jaco van der Walt is at stand-off, and perhaps most importantly Grant Gilchrist is at lock, a position that has troubled Edinburgh all season because of multiple injuries. Hooker David Cherry, meanwhile, begins the game on the bench.
“I’m happy to have whatever is available,” Cockerill said yesterday after naming his team. “It’s good to have Gilchrist back, because second row is a position we’re light on at the moment. And it’s good to get Darcy back, because he’s a world-class winger and a threat and he needs a bit of game time. I could have done with a tighthead but it wasn’t to be.”
Edinburgh’s two first-choice tightheads, Simon Berghan and Willem Nel, are among the group of six kept back by Scotland along with their fellow-forwards Rory Sutherland, Jamie Ritchie and Hamish Watson plus winger Duhan van der Merwe. Any team would miss that amount of firepower, but Cockerill is confident his team can acquit themselves well provided they learn the lessons of last week’s 10-22 defeat by Munster.
“A little bit more composure at crucial times would have made the difference in that game,” the former England hooker continued. “Physically we need to be a bit better. At key moments against Munster we got bullied a little bit around the set piece and in our goal-line defence. We need to be tougher there.
“But Munster are a good side, and reviewing the game it was tiny margins. It wasn’t a big difference on the scoreboard, but in key moments they executed and we either didn’t execute or were outmuscled a little bit and we need to put that right.”
The weather forecast is good, seemingly for the first time in some months, and Cockerill believes that both sides will welcome the opportunity to play some running rugby. That contradicts a suggestion which the Edinburgh coach says he read about his team’s style of play from his Scarlets counterpart Glenn Delaney.
“I did read with amusement yesterday that Mr Delaney was saying that we were a set-piece and kick-chase team. When I looked at the stats they kicked the ball 27 times on average per game, the second highest in the comp. We kicked the ball 22 times per game – we’re the lowest in the comp. So he can do one!
“The weather’s good and we’re happy to have it sunny and in daylight. It feels like we’ve been playing in winter the whole time. There have not been many good days, home or away, for as long as I can remember. So it’ll be good to have not much wind, no rain and a decent surface at Murrayfield. I think it suits all teams.”
THE Commonwealth Games in July 2022 may seem like a long way away but for Alan Clyne they are helping to provide a long-term focus through the ongoing uncertainty.
The squash world No.38 has, like many people, endured a frustrating year of cancelled tournaments and limited opportunities.
At the age of 34 and having competed at the top end of the sport for more than 15 years, Clyne acknowledges he is coming towards the end of his career. Having barely had cause to dig out his travelling luggage over the past 12 months, the Inverness-born player admits he may have considered calling it a day already were the Games in Birmingham not looming tantalisingly in the distance.
Clyne has competed in the three previous editions of the multi-sport event and finished just outside the medals with doubles partner Greg Lobban on Gold Coast in 2018.
The chance to go one better and get a place on the podium therefore continues to fuel Clyne’s commitment.
“I’m at that stage of my career when I don’t know how many years I’m going to have left,” he admitted. “And when you’re missing out on tournaments it’s tough. At the start of the pandemic last year you didn’t know just how long it might go on for.
“I started to think about how long I could wait it out for or whether I should start to think about looking to do something else. I can see why a lot of athletes might have quit during this period as it’s tough to keep going, especially financially when you’re missing out on tournament earnings and with no league matches on and no exhibition opportunities to support you. I’m just grateful to Scottish Squash for their help during this period. But the Commonwealth Games are coming up and that’s a really big thing for squash. I love that event and look forward to it every four years.
“I’m desperate to get a medal. It was close last time and we’ve already started training on the doubles courts at Scotstoun to try to prepare for next summer.”
Clyne’s first competitive challenge of 2021 will take place at the same venue as his last one in December.
Nobody quite loves squash like the Egyptians who boast a number of world-leading players in both the men’s and women’s game and a devoted fanbase to go with it. Clyne admits every trip to Cairo is like visiting a living shrine to the sport. We’re just glad to be able to have another tournament again after a long break,” he added. “And they really love squash in Egypt – it’s massive over there.
“When you step off the plane and walk to the terminal there are posters of all the leading players who all have major sponsors. And most of the games have big crowds who come out to watch. I remember a while ago playing in the university championships and it was live on television and being blown away by how big even a tournament like that was to them.”
Scottish Squash’s home is the Oriam national centre in Edinburgh where current neighbours include the Scotland rugby team preparing for their Six Nations matches. Normally that would present a chance for a quick hello from one running machine to another but in
Covid times sadly all social contact is out for now.
“We’ve been able to train pretty much as normal at Oriam in the last wee while which has been a big help,” added Clyne. “The Scotland rugby guys are in just now too and they’ve got a nice set-up where they do all their video analysis and the rest.
“I’ve not really had a chance to talk to any of them this time as our gym sessions are maximum six people at a time. Before Covid you had people from all different sports in there together and you’d get a bit of interaction so I’m missing that part of it.”
Plotting the rest of the year remains a precarious business but Clyne is hoping the calendar will start to fill up.
“You really want to be able to plan and say, ‘I’ll play here and take a break here’ but it’s just been training, training, training with the occasional tournament. We’re so used to having the calendar in place months in advance but now it’s about having to adapt. But it’s looking like the schedule could start to get a bit busier. There might be one or two bigger events over the summer so it’s looking more promising.”
In normal times Clyne would be preparing for a visit to Hampden to watch his beloved St Johnstone take on Livingston in the Betfred Cup Final. Instead he will need to settle for watching it on TV with wife Olivia Blatchford, the world No.13. He added: “The last time Saints were in a cup final in 2014 my wife and I were there and it would have been great to go to this one too. But we’ll be watching from home hoping they can lift another trophy.”
I can see why a lot of athletes might have quit during this period. It’s tough to keep going
THE Rangers fans are obviously greatly enjoying the progression towards a 55th league title and the great job Steven Gerrard has done to achieve this. However, he should be getting praise from the whole of the Scottish game for the status he has accomplished for our reputation in European football. With the victory against Royal Antwerp on Thursday night he actually went ahead of Walter Smith in terms of victories in European competitions. That’s pretty amazing considering the different time scales both men have been in charge of Rangers.
This season, Rangers have now played 11 matches in the Europa League, winning nine of them and drawing two. This is a tremendous run in the competition and when you consider that they’ve also scored 33 goals during this period it makes it even more impressive.
To score nine goals against Royal Antwerp over the two legs is a sign of how Rangers are developing their European style since Gerrard took over. Earlier in the tournament, Spurs played against Antwerp twice in the group stage and lost 1-0 in Belgium and won 2-0 at home. They were actually top of the Premier League at the time of these matches.
I remember at the time pundits saying the Spurs defeat in Belgium was understandable as it’s a strong league with many top-class players and you only need to look at how their international team are doing to know the high standard of Belgian football. For Rangers to win both matches and score nine goals gives the Scottish game a serious level of credibility and we should be commending them for achieving it. The other big factor for the Scottish game are the points attained for our coefficient and this will be a great benefit to our clubs going forward in European competitions.
The performance on Thursday was outstanding with some terrific goals also being delivered on the night. Considering they were without key players such as James Tavernier and Ryan Jack it was a really impressive performance. Alfredo Morelos was outstanding and showed form he’s not produced enough of in the domestic game. Antwerp couldn’t cope with him and with the support he was getting from Ianis Hagi and Ryan Kent it meant that Rangers were producing exceptional attacking football.
Antwerp are actually a good team and they did compete well until Kent scored Rangers’ third goal to put them three ahead on aggregate. This was the outstanding goal of the game as the build-up move was outstanding involving Hagi and Morelos.
Perhaps the biggest moment of the night came before this when young Nathan Patterson scored his first goal for the club 20 seconds after coming on as a substitute for Leon Balogun
GORDON SMITH
at half-time. This must have been a special moment for the young player when you consider how he must have been feeling over the last couple of weeks considering his behaviour in attending a house party and breaking lockdown ruled which resulted in him being fined by the club and having to isolate at home for 10 days. During his time off, I’m sure he was probably also worrying about whether his Rangers career would continue. Steven Gerrard decided to accept his apology, put him back in the squad and had no worries about putting him on as a half-time substitute in what was a crucial match. It actually paid off for both parties, with Patterson having an outstanding 45 minutes, scoring a vital goal and
Gerrard being proved correct in his handling of the situation.
There’s a good way still to go in the Europa League this season but with the league title almost tied up, I’m pretty sure that Gerrard will want to concentrate greatly on Rangers pushing towards the final. It won’t be easy as you can see the standard of opposition that are still in the competition. However, with the performances Rangers have produced so far I can imagine they are currently one of the teams the big clubs might want to avoid. It’s a while since we had a team performing well in Europe so we should welcome the moment.
AND ANOTHER THING
It’s interesting that we have our first domestic trophy being decided tomorrow when Livingston take on St Johnstone. Only a few weeks ago we would definitely have considered Livi to be favourites with the great form they were in with David Martindale now in charge. They were actually unbeaten from November until February 6. Aptly, who was it that finished this great run? St Johnstone. Livi have now taken just one point from their last three league games. Saints, on the other hand, are on an impressive run with their only two defeats this year being against Rangers and Celtic. Maybe the Livi players have been saving themselves a bit recently with a view to playing in this final but I still feel St Johnstone will now be considered favourites. Let’s hope we get a great final despite the fact that, sadly, there will be no spectators at the match.
Spurs lost in Belgium and won 2-0 at home