Bouncing back against Bordeaux would be ideal tonic

I WAS hoping to write my column this week analysing the Pro14 final and what should have been an absolutely mouth-watering clash between Edinburgh and Leinster.

They were the teams who topped both of the Conference tables. They were the two standout teams all season and there’s no doubt it would have been a cracking final.

But Edinburgh only have themselves to blame. They blew it against Ulster in last week’s semi-final and totally lost control of the game in the last 20 minutes.

It was a massive missed opportunity. But, thankfully for them, they have a chance to bounce back against Bordeaux next week.

In normal circumstances when you lose a semi-final like that, your season would end immediately and you’d go away and have six weeks to stew on the defeat over your summer break.

Edinburgh are fortunate, then, to have a high-profile game come around so quickly in the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup.

Richard Cockerill will be demanding a huge response from his players. They’ve taken a fair amount of criticism for the way they imploded against Ulster.

Now it’s time for the backlash. Edinburgh’s season is not over by any means. Bordeaux were the best team in

France last season, so going over there and winning would be a huge statement.

Edinburgh are good enough to win in Bordeaux. They can rightly take confidence from the way they went to Toulon in the Champions Cup and won last year.

With the departure of Fijian superstar Semi Radradra to Bristol, Bordeaux have lost arguably their best player since they faced Edinburgh in the pool stage.

He’s a genuine superstar who would probably get into a World XV, so that in itself should give Edinburgh a boost.

Bordeaux will be slightly under-cooked compared to Edinburgh, who go into the match with more minutes of competitive rugby under their belt.

The limited number of fans inside the stadium should also benefit them, as they won’t have to face a raucous French crowd who’d normally drive the home team on.

The key for Edinburgh will be to prove that they possess a real killer instinct and deliver an 80-minute performance.

That’s something which is symptomatic of the Scottish national team as well.

It’s all well and good playing a nice brand of rugby and picking up good results here and there.

The top teams, though, are ruthless and they find a way of delivering week in, week out — and especially in these high-profile games.

That’s the next step Edinburgh still have to take. Winning a knockout fixture away in France would be the ideal way to do it.