COCKERILL’S EURO DREAM DIES

Slow start costs Edinburgh dear as capital men suffer new knockout blow

ANOTHER knockout match, another Edinburgh play-off defeat under Richard Cockerill. Five times out of five they have now lost one-off games under the Englishman when the pressure was on.

Because of that dreadful run, they are fast becoming the nearly men of European rugby.

They have only themselves to blame for their latest play-off loss, which comes hard on the heels of the Guinness Pro14 play-off defeat to Ulster at BT Murrayfield.

Losing 14 points in the first nine minutes left them always chasing the game in France. That they got within six points at one stage was more down to Bordeaux — who had a player yellow-carded for the last 10 minutes — becoming sloppy rather than due to the quality of their play.

Individually, there were too many errors, with full-back Blair Kinghorn making a crucial wrong decision when the game was back in the balance. Whether it was greed and the thoughts of glory or simply a rush of blood, he tried to crash through two tackles which he was never going to do when he had winger Darcy Graham unmarked outside him and certain to score.

Even the most experienced Edinburgh players made too many uncharacteristic mistakes, with flanker Hamish Watson one of the main culprits. In attack, he knocked on with the try line in his sights, while in defence he was caught offside in the last minute which allowed Bordeaux to put over the penalty that secured the victory.

Individual errors contributed to the two early tries for the hosts. Centre James Johnstone had the ball stripped from him in midfield, which led to the opening score.

Scrum-half Charlie Shiel dropped a high ball that gifted possession to Bordeaux ahead of the second.

Back-row Nick Haining knocked on at key times when he came on. The list of individual errors that cost Edinburgh was endless.

Cockerill (below) conceded that his side had only themselves to blame but insisted that the lessons they will have learned against their affluent opposition will stand them in good stead for the future.

‘We’re never going to accept losing but the players who played in this game will have to learn from it,’ he said. ‘Guys like George Taylor, who had some bad moments and some very good moments, same with James Johnstone and Nick Haining, who drops the ball off that kick-off when it’s a six-point game.

‘Pressure does that. A lot of these guys haven’t been in this arena for long, so we have to be really careful of saying we should be able to go there and win.

‘Where Bordeaux sit, the budget they spend compared to ours and how we go about our business, in some ways it’s poles apart. You’re not comparing apples with apples.’

The French side wore tartan checks on their blue tops in honour of Edinburgh but in those first 10 minutes showed their visitors no respect.

Bill Mata spilled the ball straight from kick-off that set the tone for the game. His mistake put Edinburgh under pressure, with Shiel having to clear the danger with a kick to touch. It took just three minutes for the French side to take the lead when Johnstone was stripped of the ball by Ulupano Seuteni. He found his fellow centre Jean-Baptiste Dubie, who started the move up the short side that allowed winger Santiago Cordero to run in unopposed. Fly-half Matthieu Jalibert put over the extras.

When Bordeaux were ruled offside, Edinburgh No10 Jaco van der Walt missed an easy penalty to put his side’s first points on the board.

Things went from bad to worse for the visitors after an error from Shiel. Under no pressure, he knocked on which gave the hosts the put-in at the scrum. The Bordeaux forwards took advantage, knocking back the opposition to give Jalibert a bit of space. He then sucked in two Edinburgh players before offloading to Dubie, who went in under the posts. Jalibert kicked the conversion to put Bordeaux 14-0 up after just nine minutes.

It took a full 21 minutes before Edinburgh launched their first serious attack and, when they did, it ended with an error from Damien Hoyland, who had the ball stolen from him at the breakdown by Ben Lamb. The Bordeaux winger ran from deep in his own half before being hauled down just short by Mata.

The first Edinburgh points on the board came on the half-hour mark with a Van der Walt penalty from in front of the posts.

Mata had been coming on to a game but had to be helped off after 34 minutes. Scotland international Haining took his place.

It took great defending from Shiel and Watson to stop another certain try from Dubie after a clever kick ahead from Yann Lesgourgues. A minute from the break, an uncharacteristic error from Watson put an end to Edinburgh’s best try-scoring opportunity of the half.

Edinburgh started the second half poorly — although not as bad as the first — with Van der Walt and centre Taylor both making unforced errors when their team had the ball.

Van der Walt made up for that mistake with a perfect penalty in 46 minutes that cut the deficit to eight points. This was a time for cool Edinburgh heads but Grant Gilchrist was penalised for coming in front the side two minutes later. Jalibert’s successful penalty increased the lead to 11 points.

It needed a piece of genius to bring Edinburgh back into the game and it came from Graham with 53 minutes on the clock. He weaved in and out of two tackles and when he was caught, he managed to release the ball for the split second needed. He picked it up again legally and, before being bundled into touch, he managed to get the ball inside to Hoyland to score. But Van der Walt missed the conversation.

Four minutes later, Jalibert made it 20-11 with a penalty after Edinburgh were penalised at the breakdown.

Then there was the crucial moment when Kinghorn made the wrong call. The full-back took the decision to go on his own when he had Graham outside him and his misjudgement stopped a certain Edinburgh try.

Watson was next to make an error when he had the ball knocked out of his hands with the opposition posts in sight.

With nine minutes left, the home side had replacement prop Ben Tameifuna yellow-carded for killing the ball, with Kinghorn putting over the penalty. It was now a six-point game. Bordeaux missed a penalty after Jalibert went off as the tension built.

With two minutes left, Edinburgh gifted the ball to Bordeaux when Johnstone knocked on and, to make matters worse, Watson was caught offside which gave away a penalty that Ben Botica put over.

The defeat brings an end to Edinburgh’s season as they again let themselves down in the knockout stages of a major competition.

SCORERS; Bordeaux-Begles — Tries: Cordero, Dubie. Cons: Jalibert (2). Pens: Jalibert (2), Botica.

Edinburgh — Try: Hoyland. Pens: Van der Walt (2), Kinghorn.

Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland).