EURO EXIT IS OUR OWN FAULT, SAYS SOLOMONS
EDINBURGH head coach Alan Solomons insisted that his players must hold themselves to account after folding in France and crashing out of the European Challenge Cup. With just 10 minutes remaining, the capital club led Grenoble 23-19 and were sailing through to a home quarter-final as winners of Pool Five. But a late double from former Springbok flyer Gio Aplon dumped last season’s runners-up out at the first hurdle, going down 34-23, when all they had to do was hang on to a losing bonus-point. ‘We only have ourselves to blame,’ admitted Solomons. ‘We had a long and hard journey to get here, but we can’t blame that. ‘It’s one of those things. We were five minutes away from qualifying from the pool, but we just couldn’t hang on. ‘We were ahead with 10 minutes remaining and going through at the top of the pool, but they managed to win a high ball and go ahead. ‘Even at that stage, all we had to do was hold on to a losing bonus point. But we couldn’t manage to do that — even with a minute to go — and we broke.’ Edinburgh got off to a dream start after four minutes when they bulldozed their way over the line. John Hardie was at the back of a powerful rolling maul to score, with Sam Hidalgo-Clyne landing the conversion for a 7-0 lead. Grenoble kicked their way back into it with two penalties from fly-half Jonathan Wisniewski, before Hidalgo-Clyne landed one of his own. But Solomons’ men were to receive a taste of their own medicine. The French side drove a lineout from close range for hooker Arnaud Heguy to score. A gift for Will Helu gave the visitors a 17-13 lead at the break, before a second half which descended into a kicking battle. But on 70 minutes, Aplon claimed a high ball to score, before racing clear at the death to dump Edinburgh out. But Solomons reckons their pool-stage exit could come as a blessing in disguise after they fell short of the Champions Cup places last season. ‘Getting to the final of the Challenge Cup was really good for us last season and gave our players some great experience,’ he continued. ‘But we found it increasingly difficult to keep fighting on two fronts and it ended up costing us a place in the Champions Cup due to our league form. ‘So, hopefully, we can kick on now, with only the Pro12 to focus on and push higher up the league table.’