A coach content on the continent
Duncan Hodge will use his international insight as Murrayfield side explore unknown territory in Romanian Challenge Cup leg
IF there is any player who understands Edinburgh’s European pedigree and what the broader competition means to the club, it is Duncan Hodge – who, as luck would have it, has just taken over as head coach.
As a player, he is the club’s leading points-scorer in all European competitions, behind Chris Paterson in the equivalent of the European Champions Cup, but overtaking him with a remarkable 71 in the 1997/8 season in the equivalent of the Challenge Cup, including a record eight penalties when Edinburgh became the first Scottish club to win in France by beating Biarritz.
“We had some great wins,” he said. “That win over Biarritz was a great one. I remember the first game down in Bath playing against [Jeremy] Guscott, [Henry] Paul, [Andy] Nicol, [Jonathan] Callard – we got well beaten [55-26]. Northampton the year after they won it, we beat them home and away. European rugby is fantastic and I love playing those different teams.”
Now he is back in Europe and though they start with a bit of an adventure and a trek into the unknown when they make the trip to Romania’s Timisoara Saracens, he is looking forward both to that and the more conventional experience of Harlequins and Stade Francais that follow.
Not that Hodge had imagined even two weeks ago that he would be making these trips as the man in charge – though the prospect does not daunt him.
“People talk to me about leading. If you play stand-off, you need to stand up and lead, boss people around and be authoritative,” he said. “It goes back to school in terms of captaining teams I played for. I don’t know how people perceive me, but responsibility and leading people is something I do. It is in a different capacity now but there are similarities. It [having played in Europe] has helped a lot.
“I am not talking to the team about it all – I don’t want to be prattling on about what I did 15 years ago – but if we get things right in the first two weeks of Europe then we can start referencing past things.
“We are lucky with the group we have got. We have the Romanians, then two teams with pedigree that are great to play against and will be a big challenge. We can learn from playing these teams.”
Stand-off Jason Tovey is one player in the team with an insight into what it might be like over in Romania. He played against Bucharest Wolves for the Dragons in December, 2014. The Welshmen won 37-10 and the playmaker reckons his new team can achieve something similar as long as they front up to what he expects will be a heavy pack.
“It was a very cold place and they had a heavy pack. It is tough for us just now as we have a few tightheads missing, but the boys who stepped in [on Friday] did a good job. Ewan McQuillin has come back [on loan from London Scottish] and Murray McCallum did well when he came on, and these boys know they will need to step it up again,” said Tovey.
Edinburgh head off on a high after the 45-10 demolition of Treviso at Murrayfield. Tovey was named man of the match after setting up two tries and orchestrating a far more adventurous attacking game than we have been used to seeing at Edinburgh of late.
It felt like an important step forward for the capital outfit, but Tovey stresses that any momentum generated must carry on through next weekend ahead of the far bigger challenge of hosting Harlequins the following Saturday.
“Hodgy has been telling us to go out and enjoy our rugby, he has freshened things up this week. We worked on our skills, getting the forwards passing the ball, and you can see it in the boys who were out there enjoying it. It was a massive result,” he said. “There were a few little spills but that has to be expected when you play an expansive game. We have to move on to Romania.”