Bradbury sees positives in defeat but says Cockerill’s men must be more clinical
It is not usually a good idea to feel too encouraged by a defeat, especially one which effectively kills off your primary hope for the season. But in the context of their current campaign, Edinburgh were right to take heart from at least some aspects of their 27-25 loss to Scarlets on Saturday, even if it did all but officially end their chances of a top-three finish in Pro14 Conference B.
The reality for Richard Cockerill’s side is that they have been struggling all season for the sort of form needed to claim one of those Champions Cup places. A victory over the Welsh side would still have left them facing a steeply uphill battle.
So while of course they should analyse what went wrong - and rest assured, Cockerill is not the type to easily forgive and forget unforced errors - they should also allow themselves to dwell on what went right. They are still in this season’s Champions Cup, and will find out next week who they meet in the last 16. That match, not Saturday’s, could turn out to be season-defining - provided, at least, that they maintain the improvement which was in evidence at Murrayfield.
“In terms of what happened last week, our performance was hugely encouraging,” said Magnus Bradbury, referring to the 22-10 loss to Munster seven days earlier, in which his team were virtually out of the contest by halftime. “What we wanted to do was make sure we take a step forward from last week. Last week wasn’t the way we wanted to play. But this week was hugely encouraging in terms of the performance. We can’t fault the effort at all. We just need to be more clinical when we are in the opposition 22.”
More clinical, and more composed as well. A wild offload by Darcy Graham, for example, was full of good intentions, but allowed a turnover which quickly produced a try for Scarlets fullback Johnny Mcnicholl. That was in the first half, while after the break a dropped ball by George Taylor led to the Scarlets’ third try, for Dane Blacker. Graham got one of his team’s three tries - Bradbury and David Cherry got the others, with stand-off Jaco van der Walt converting two and adding two penalties - and the winger also came close at the death to scoring what would have been the match-winner. Graham’s commitment to attacking rugby is an inspiration, and you would never want to curb his enthusiasm. But channelling it in the right way could possibly turn him into an even more effective player.
Scarlets had fallen behind to Bradbury’s opening score of the match, but drew level at 10-10 thanks to a Tyler Morgan try before dropping behind again before half-time. But from 20-17 down they scored ten unanswered points in the first ten minutes of the second half. Cherry’s unconverted score brought Edinburgh close, but Van der Walt was wide with a long-range penalty and Graham’s stoppagetime break was closed down by an efficient Welsh defence.
With four games to go, Edinburgh have little to play for in the league, but the prospect of that Champions Cup tie should be a good incentive for them to keep their standards up. “We play to win,” head coach Cockerill said when asked what the team’s mindset would be in the coming weeks. “Europe is going to be the focus now, I suppose. But we’ll try as hard as we can to get as many points as we can.”