Everitt expecting Edinburgh to cope with pressure of chasing bonus win
Edinburgh have made some definite, if modest, progress under Sean Everitt this season, winning six of their nine league games so far. But tonight they face their first real crunch point of the campaign: a match in which the pressure is on them to perform far more than it has been in any of their other games to date.
To be certain of finishing in the top four in Challenge Cup Pool 3 and thereby qualifying for the last 16, Everitt’s team have to win at Scarlets with a try bonus point. Anything less than that, and they will need to rely on the other two remaining games - Gloucester against Castres tonight, and Black Lion versus Clermont tomorrow - going their way.
The coach has rightly decided to seek no solace in such permutations, deliberately telling his team to go out in search of the four or more tries they will need, on the grounds that he believes they respond well to the added pressure. “This team has been in pressure situations before,” Everitt said yesterday after naming a 23 in which Scotland regulars Jamie Ritchie, Ali Price and Ewan Ashman all start on the bench, and from which Darcy Graham and Harry Paterson are missing through injury.
“I put the team under pressure after the Benetton game [a wholly avoidable home loss in the URC] “to go away and win at Ulster. The team answered that challenge and I would expect no different this weekend.
“It’s a big game for us. The URC is our focus, but every competition for us is about performance. We would very much like to be in the last 16 of this competition.
“With the squad we have and when we are at full strength, I definitely do believe we can compete for this competition. But we’ve got to get through on Friday night and bag our points so we don’t have to wait for other results to determine our destiny.”
Edinburgh’s injury list now includes a dozen names, with squad regulars such as
Mark Bennett, Javan Sebastian and Wes Goosen there alongside Graham and Paterson, pictured inset. That has forced Everitt into reshuffling his resources, especially in the backs, where centre Chris Dean is on the right wing. Duhan van der Merwe is on the left after being rested last week, while the aforementioned Scotland trio form part of a strong replacements contingent which should ensure a strong finish from the visitors.
The home team have named 14 players as unavailable through injury, including regular captain Josh Macleod, while centre Johnny Williams is suspended after being sent off in last week’s defeat by Clermont. Having failed to pick up any points in
that match or in their other two losses, Scarlets are the only team in the pool who cannot qualify. But they beat Edinburgh 42-14 in the league last year, and although the teams’ fortunes have gone in different directions since, Everitt will not underestimate the home side.
“Scarlets being where they are, there is no pressure,” he added. “They were very competitive last week against a strong Clermont team. At 30 minutes they were at 0-0 then suffered a red card and a try and from there it went a little bit pear-shaped.
“They've been competitive in most of their games. They gave us a very hard time down there last year. We’ve had a look at that, where their strengths lie and where we could improve. We’ve prepared very well for this clash.”