Winning mentality in the big contests remains elusive

Ten minutes in, I thought Edinburgh were done for and I worried they were looking at a 50-point loss, so fair play to them for getting back into the match. They were far too nervy early on for me and you simply can’t go away from home and make those simple mistakes and ship 14 points in the first nine minutes in such a big game and still expect to win.

They didn’t do the basic things that they should have early on. For example, James Johnstone gets stripped in the tackle and they run in a try from half way. In their first big scrum test they let themselves down and Bordeaux got a second try when Edinburgh were still trying to come to terms with their poor start.

There were other key moments. For instance, when Blair Kinghorn had the option of Darcy Graham outside him he decided to go on his own. Simply by the nature of his running style it looked like he was not moving too fast but I am sure he was and he wasn’t that easy to stop.

What I am definitely sure of is that if that had been Stuart Hogg he would have made the right decision by either sprinting between the defenders to score or offloading to Darcy to play him in for the try. Getting better at making these split-second decisions under pressure will come for Blair Kinghorn.

I really do think it would have been a different story if Duhan van der Merwe had been fit to play as his physicality on the wing was missed.

Losing Bill Mata to injury in the first half was also a massive blow. He was coming on to a game when he had to go off injured and both these things didn’t help Edinburgh as these guys are two of their main players.

Edinburgh deserve credit for staying in the fight, not just against Bordeaux but in other play-off matches they have lost like the one against Ulster in the Pro14 semi-final a few weeks ago.

The question Richard Cockerill has to find an answer to is how they learn from these defeats and create a winning mentality in big knockout games?

I really don’t think Edinburgh are that far away from making that jump. When they have everybody in their squad fit and learn from these experiences they will start winning big matches.

They also need their first-choice nine and 10 — who are Nick

Groom at scrum-half when he is fit and Jaco van der Walt at fly-half — to do more to make their influence felt on games.

They can develop — and have to develop — next season to help take Edinburgh to a new level.

If they don’t, Charlie Shiel is there at nine — and I thought he did very well against Bordeaux despite not gathering an early high ball. He has the potential to step into Groom’s shoes.

There isn’t an experienced man putting pressure on van der Walt, which is a concern, but I am hopeful he can come good.

Looking back over the past few weeks Edinburgh were just not good enough to beat Ulster in the Pro14 semi-final.

Against Bordeaux it has been the same story.

They have been agonisingly close in both matches but are just not there yet.

Let’s hope next season they will have learned from their two play-off defeats in the Pro14 and in Europe and come back stronger.