Edinburgh have plenty to fight for this season after gritty win in Italy
Suddenly, after a few months of drift and inconsistency, Edinburgh’s season is beginning to look rather interesting.
They should have a last-16 Champions Cup tie against either Toulouse or Bordeaux to look forward to when organisers EPCR announce how the tournament will proceed now the pool stage has been scrapped, and thanks to Saturday’s 26-10 win against Zebre they are also back in the battle for a top-three spot in Pro14 Conference B.
Munster are well out in front and should go into the straight final against either Ulster or Leinster from Conference A, but there is still a lot for Edinburgh to fight for given only those top three places are likely to guarantee Champions Cup rugby next season. They certainly had to fight in the match in Parma, especially during a frenzied second-half spell when George Taylor was sent off with WP Nel still in the sinbin.
Richard Cockerill’s side are still only fifth in the table after the four-point win, but just seven points behind second-placed Cardiff, with two games in hand. Connacht and Scarlets have also played fewer games than the Blues and are very much in the running - which Edinburgh knew they would not have been if they had lost to Zebre.
“We said this was a must-win for us, so I'm really pleased with how we stuck in,” captain Grant Gilchrist, pictured inset, said. “It was gritty. In the last 20 minutes we went down to 14 and then 13, but we controlled the game and the result and that's really pleasing. You've got to do that on the road. That’s a result and a performance that puts us back in the mix for Europe, which is the key goal for us this year.”
A Mark Bennett try and a conversion and penalty from Jaco van der Walt had put the visitors 10-3 up at the break, but Zebre drew level within minutes of the restart when Mick Kearney touched down. Two more successful kicks from Van der Walt nudged Edinburgh in front again, but the match was still very much in the balance when Nel was yellow-carded for a team offence and Taylor was shown a red for a high tackle.
However, Edinburgh rose to the challenge, and another three points from the stand-off gave them a bit more breathing space before Jamie Farndale rounded things off with an interception try, with Van der Walt adding the conversion. The resolve shown by the team in adversity was especially impressive given that both Cockerill and Blair Kinghorn had been unable to travel due to the late delivery of their Covid tests, Farndale having come into the side as an indirect replacement for the full-back.
Edinburgh’s next official game is against the Dragons on 12 February, but they have a training match with Glasgow next week to provide some much-needed match practice for fringe players in both squads. The hit-out could also be useful to those members of the Scotland squad such as Jamie Ritchie who are making their way back from injury.