Cockerill acknowledges lure of Clermont
EDINBURGH head coach Richard Cockerill did not rule out the idea of moving to top French club Clermont, while explaining his frustrations of coaching in Scotland.
On the back of his side’s defeat in Cardiff, which put paid to any hopes of playing in the Champions Cup next season, the former Leicester and Clermont hooker was in philosophical form on the subject of squad depth and losing players to international duty.
Pointing this was an exceptional season with his top players spending as much time with Scotland as they have with Edinburgh, the defeat condemning them to fifth place in Conference B was not a surprise as his team ran out of steam.
Cockerill said he had not been speaking to Clermont about the coaching role which is vacant for next season, but it would be a move that would give him the squad and budget to challenge among Europe’s elite – a point not missed on an evening when Edinburgh were condemned to the second-string Challenge Cup.
So, has he been talking to Clermont? “No.” Has he still got a job to do at Edinburgh? “I hope so. Ask Mr Dodson about that,” referring to SRU chief executive Mark Dodson.
Do the problems of player depth at Edinburgh make a move to Clermont more attractive? “I suppose so, yes. I don’t
really have anything to say to that. I am the Edinburgh coach and we are at where we are at.
“I have a contract until 2023 and at this point I’m committed to doing the job I’m doing here,” Cockerill continued.
“We are out of Europe for next year, which is disappointing, but you just have to deal with what’s in front of you.
“You just hope that you see more of your internationals.
“Next year, there are supposedly not so many clashes, but we’ll see. It’s very hard to compete. That’s no one’s fault, it’s just the system that has run this season. Hopefully, moving forward, it will be a little bit less congested.
“Ultimately, we were running out of the depth of player you need to compete. We just haven’t got enough players because we’ve got so many away and so many injured.
“We’re back in Wales to play Dragons next Sunday and we will just have to put together a team that we can find. That’s just how it is.”