REALITY CHECK FOR COCKERILL AFTER SLOPPY EDINBURGH SUCCUMB TO UNDERDOGS
WITH nine minutes left, Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill could take no more. He stormed down from his regular place at the back of the Myreside stand, black notebook in hand, to spend the rest of the GuinessPro14 match against Benetton on the touchline.
The sight of the fearsome figure in their faces should have been the rocket his players needed to up their performance and claw back the narrow three point deficit.
Instead, they huffed and puffed and left him frustrated at the final whistle as they failed to breach the defence of the Italian side.
The 20-17 loss was a hard one for Cockerill to take. He had seen his team win well against Cardiff Blues in Wales and the Dragons at Myreside.
Then this. If he did not already know the extent of the rebuilding work he has to do, he will now.
‘He was calm afterwards,’ said Edinburgh centre Chris Dean, who scored two tries and was one of the few players to gain pass marks. ‘He told us we were better than that and he was right. I am sure we will feel the wrath though Monday and Tuesday which we deserve.’
That could be the understatement of the year as the Edinburgh coach has a lot to sort before his team play league champions Scarlets in Wales next weekend.
In a horror show, his team made basic errors, lacked leadership, struggled to keep their discipline and made wrong decisions under pressure as they fell to a hugely embarrassing defeat against one of the worst teams in the Pro14.
Captain Magnus Bradbury did not cover himself in glory by being yellow-carded and neither did winger Jason Harries, who knocked on with the opposition try-line at his mercy.
They were not alone. Top international players such as Ross Ford and Ben Toolis were posted missing at vital moments.
The Benetton players celebrated their first league victory outside Italy in 42 attempts and their first win of the season.
To be fair to Cockerill, he did not have a go at Irish referee David Wilkinson which he would have been entitled to do after he failed to award his side a penalty try for the opposition continually collapsing the scrum in the final minute.
Instead, in a calm and controlled way — at least in public — he spelled out how disappointed he felt after the loss. ‘We shouldn’t be hoping a refereeing decision helps us win, especially as we had been 14-0 up at one stage,’ said Cockerill.
‘We had international players out there making some very poor decisions and not performing to standard and playing to their own agenda. When that happens, this is what happens. You get beaten.
‘They were sloppy and when we took the lead it looked like they were going to breeze it. That attitude has come back to bite us. We have the champions Scarlets next weekend which will be even tougher and we can’t play like that again.’
Although Cockerill will have lost patience, albeit it temporarily, with his players after such a poor performance, it is clear they remain united behind him come what may.
Hamish Watson, who
He is big on driving standards up and that is what he is doing
came on against Benetton in place of John Hardie, used to try to avoid his gaze when he was a teenager in the Leicester Academy and Cockerill was head coach of the first team, such was the awe he held him in.
He might want to adopt a similar approach over the next few days with the man he has huge respect for but who is likely to go on the warpath behind closed doors after the debacle at Myreside.
‘You saw Cockers knocking about the place and as a young guy I would look down when I walked past him,’ said the Edinburgh and Scotland star. ‘Although our paths didn’t cross much Cockers’ presence was everywhere throughout the club.
‘Did I ever think he would be my head coach at Edinburgh a few years later? You can never tell in rugby, but I have been hugely impressed by him since he arrived.
‘He doesn’t take any messing about. That is what we need. He is big on driving standards up and that is what he is doing.
‘We just want to do way better than last year in the league and build the squad. Cockers is here for three years minimum and we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. It is a long way to go. Getting into the top three is the objective but we have to improve to do that.’
Cockerill was an England international hooker and has brought an extra bite to the Edinburgh forwards, who at least didn’t take a backward step against the Italian outfit.
The unfortunate thing is that they didn’t take too many forward ones either as both packs cancelled each other out.
‘We are building a lot of depth in that area,’ said the Scotland and Edinburgh openside. ‘We have Jim Ritchie, Magnus Bradbury and other younger boys like Luke Crosbie who are pushing us older boys in the back row.
‘There are me and John Hardie as out and out sevens and that is good competition for both of us and ensures our standards must remain high going forward.’