Class tells from Faf but Cockerill pleased his new boys ‘puggy-up’

EDINBURGH flashed glimpses of a possible reversal of fortunes but ultimately Richard Cockrill’s first game as head coach ended with a narrow loss against Premiership side Sale Sharks.

Morale at the end of the last PRO12 season was at rock bottom for the Scots following a desperate campaign but on Friday night at Meggetland Stadium, with a large crowd in attendance, Cockrill’s Edinburgh look to be on the road to resurrection.

Duncan Weir’s early penalty was erased by a Faf de Klerk touchdown before the Edinburgh flyhalf nudged the hosts back in front with his second.

The lead was shortlived as former Glasgow and Scotland “A” cap Byron McGuigan bounced off Darcy Graham to dot down in the corner. AJ MacGinty missed both conversions.

Edinburgh debutant Darryl Marfo then found himself in the sinbin three minutes from the break after committing a professional foul as Sale took a 10-6 advantage into the halftime.

Cockrill made 11 changes during the break, which seemed to spark the hosts back to life. Dougie Fife broke two weak tackles before cutting an impossible angle to race home untouched. Weir added the conversion and he slotted a second minutes later after his forwards earned a penalty try.

Trailing 20-10 the Sharks, after making a number of changes, began to settle into the half. After a long rolling maul TJ Ioane dotted down with MacGinty converting followed by an Andrei Ostrikov score, Will Cliff converting.

Edinburgh were handed a lifeline when Ioane was sinbinned for a high tackle but the hosts failed to maximise their man-advantage as the Sharks held on for a 24-20 victory.

“I’m actually a little frustrated that we didn’t win because I like winning,” said a positive Cockerill, above.

“It was our first hit-out and I pleased with the physical parts of our game. I thought the effort from the whole squad was good.”

Cockerill added: “I’ve learnt a few sayings in the past few weeks and one of them is puggy-up (meaning ‘get stuck in’), and our boys puggy’d up tonight.

“I think it’s a good start for us, but I don’t want us getting too far ahead of ourselves, because the reality is we played and we lost.

“But I want people to recognise the team on the field and hopefully everybody will walk away thinking that, though it wasn’t the best result, a lot of good things happened out there with still a lot of improvement yet to come.

“We’ve spoken about credibility and earning respect so it’s a step in the right direction. It’s the first step on a very long journey.”