ONLY WAY IS UP FOR BLAIR
Edinburgh head coach urges players to believe ahead of Benetton clash
MIKE BLAIR has enjoyed a highly successful first few months as Edinburgh’s head coach, and his team could reach new heights tonight by taking over at the top of the URC table.
To do that, they will most likely need to beat Benetton in what is their last home game of the year, and rely on Connacht getting the better of Leinster at the RDS. Such a combination of results may seem unlikely, even allowing for the fact that Leinster lost their unbeaten record last time out against Ulster, but the mere possibility is an indication of the progress made under Blair in a relatively short space of time.
The coach himself, however, is taking nothing for granted. Benetton are the only team to have beaten Edinburgh in the league so far, and they gave further evidence in last week’s one-point win over Glasgow that they can never be counted out of a contest.
“We’re really aware of what a challenge this Benetton team is going to be,” Blair said. “They have a huge amount of belief, as you saw from how they came back in the game against us. They came back in the game against Glasgow too. They beat the Stormers at home. They’re a really good side and have a lot of belief behind them, so we’re going to have to get a lot of parts of our game right.”
Earlier this week Blair said that all of the senior internationals whom he rested last week would come into contention for this match but were by no means guaranteed a starting berth, and he has been true to his word. Hamish Watson is in the squad for the first time this season, while Darcy Graham, Bill Mata and captain Grant Gilchrist also return to the starting line-up, but Pierre Schoeman, Stuart McInally and Jamie Ritchie all have to make do with a place on the bench.
Boan Venter deservedly retains his place at loosehead after a dominant performance at Rodney Parade, Dave Cherry
starts at hooker after being a replacement for Adam McBurney six days ago, and Magnus Bradbury holds on to his place in the back row for what will be his 100th appearance.
“We’ve ended up with a situation where we’ve got a really strong bench that can come on and make a really big impact in the second half of the game,” Blair said. “But it’s a strong team across the board.”
The game is being billed as a ‘Club Appreciation Night’, and the home team have been given permission to wear the socks of their boyhood clubs, in the case of those who grew up in Scotland, or those of a club with which they have a connection. For example, Graham will
wear the colours of Hawick, the team he represented before turning professional, while Ben Vellacott’s socks will be those of Lasswade, the club closest to his home, where he trained after moving north from Wasps.
“What we want to do as a club is win games and be challenging at the top of the league, but I also believe we have a duty to re-energise and get passion for rugby across Edinburgh,” Blair added. “We want to bring a real desire to the region by playing a certain type of rugby that gets people involved and inspired with what we’re trying to do. Ultimately we want more people playing rugby so the club gets looked after in future.”