Cockerill eyes bigger picture after thrilling derby win
● Edinburgh coach delighted with victory over Glasgow but he ‘wants consistency of effort every day’
Edinburgh had a brief taste of top spot in the Guinness Pro14 Conference B but coach Richard Cockerill is taking nothing for granted at this midway point in the season.
In the end, Munster claimed a losing bonus point in their 13-6 defeat by Leinster to edge above Edinburgh but it was a Saturday to celebrate in the Scottish capital as the team bounced back from last weekend’s 20-16 loss at Scotstoun to level the three-match series.
“For me, it is about the consistency of effort every day,” said Cockerill after the seventry encounter which thrilled a record-breaking 27,437 crowd at the national stadium. “We have to make sure we keep our consistency. It doesn’t matter if we are top after round nine, that’s irrelevant. It is about being in the top three after round 21 that matters and that’s what we have to concentrate on.
“Nothing gets given out tonight. We will keep developing this team. Today was a big step forward for us. We had a big crowd and there was pressure on us to perform and we performed. Even if we hadn’t won tonight, it was one hell of a game. A lot of people came to watch not knowing who was going to win and it was a bloody good game of rugby.”
It surely was. There were moments of stalemate as there always is in tense derby matches but a magnificent game of rugby blossomed to entertain the bumper crowd.
Darcy Graham stole the show with opening and closing tries to bookend a compelling 80 minutes. The 22-yearold Borderer stole in for the well-taken first try of the afternoon and then put the gloss on proceedings with a dazzling dash down the East Stand touchline to put the game out of sight.
Amid the euphoria, Cockerill was keeping his eyes on the bigger picture, whilst also savouring the moment.
“These wins are huge for us. Winning in Munster was huge. Those are games where other teams won’t pick up points,” said Cockerill.
“We’ve got big league games coming up over the next few weeks and obviously we have Europe [Challenge Cup] as well.” The eccentricities of rugby mean that, just as you feel the club game is kicking into its stride, the
Six Nations beckons soon and Cockerill knows he will need to pick from a new armoury.
“I would always want a little bit more. We are losing more and more players all the time,” he said.
“That’s the dynamic with the landscape shifting for this team. With the budget we have underfunding, we need to have a good balance. “We’ve just got to keep working hard and prepare as well as we can and see where it takes us.” Edinburgh are now sitting pretty in Conference B but things are looking a bit tricky now for Dave Rennie, who leaves Glasgow to become Australia coach at the end of the season.
“When you lose it’s always hard to talk about individuals who went well. There was no shortage of effort but we have to be sharper and more clinical. But I thought Huw [Jones] was a handful with ball in hand,” said the Kiwi coach.
“I haven’t done all the maths. But we have lost five now so that puts us under a bit of heat. We still have to play Ulster a couple of times and we’ve still got to play Cheetahs and Leinster, so there is a chance to claw back some points there.
“We’re going to have to be really good over the next peri
“We will keep developing this team. We had a big crowd and there was pressure on us to perform and we performed. Even if we hadn’t won tonight, it was one hell of a game”
RICHARD COCKERILL
od. We’ve got Treviso away then Zebre and Dragons at homebeyondthatwhenweget back in. We’ve boxed ourselves into a bit of a corner. I think you can lose seven or eight games and still have a chance of making the play-offs, but we don’t want to try that theory out.”
Asked about the potential return of Fijian fans favourite Leone Nakarawa to Scotstoun, Rennie said “there’s nothing to add at the moment”, but it is understood that an announcement on that score is imminent.
For Edinburgh, there was a welcome return from injury by 39-times capped Scotland
centre Matt Scott off the bench. One of the best Scottish attacking midfielders of his generation looked in fine fettle and was unlucky to be denied a try when Glasgow full-back Ruaridh Jackson’s magnificent last-gasp arm prevented full contact with the righthand post protector.
“Matt has obviously been injured, but George [Taylor] has played well and deserved to stay in the side,” added Cockerill. “Matt’s ball carrying and physicality is very good. Coming off the bench against some fatigued bodies was decisive for us. He was outstanding.” SCORERS: EDINBURGH:TRIES: Graham 2, Pyrgos, Penalty try; Cons: Hickey 2; Pen: Hickey.
GLASGOW: Tries: H Jones, Cummings, G Horne Cons: Hastings 2.
EDINBURGH: B Kinghorn; D Graham, M Bennett, G Taylor, D Van der Merwe; S Hickey, N Groom; P Schoeman, S Mcinally, WP Nel, B Toolis, G Gilchrist, J Ritchie, H Watson, V Mata. Subs: M Willemse (for Mcinally 36), J Bhatti (for Schoeman 71), S Berghan (for Nel 44), M Bradbury (for Watson 56), H Pyrgos (for Groom 61), J Van der Walt (for Hickey 62), M Scott (for Taylor 56). Not used: L Carmichael..
GLASGOW: R Jackson; R Tagive, H Jones, S Johnson, DTH Van der Merwe; A Hastings, A Price; O Kebble, F Brown, Z Fagerson, S Cummings, J Gray, R Harley, C Gibbins, R Wilson. Subs: G Turner (for Brown 67), A Seiuli (for Kebble 56), A Nicol (for Z Fagerson 80), T Gordon (for Wilson 71), G Horne (for Price 56), N Grigg (for Hastings 62), N Matawalu (for Tagive 67). Not used: A Ashe.