Cockerill suffers dose of the Blues
At least Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill didn’t try to put a gloss on his side’s woeful display in their European Challenge Cup exit to Cardiff Blues.
‘No complaints, they were better than us,’ said Cockerill. ‘It was disappointing we didn’t show up on such an important night. Some didn’t cope with the pressure.
‘I suppose we say we are now concentrating on the league, which is what you say when you lose in the cup.’
You had to appreciate his honesty and ability to stay uncharacteristically cool after his team were totally outplayed.
He was let down by some of his senior players — such as captain Fraser McKenzie, WP Nel and Stuart McInally — who failed to meet their usual high standards.
the fact that they only troubled the scoreboard with two Jaco van der Walt penalties showed how toothless they were in attack.
Cockerill’s team had gone six games undefeated ahead of the Cardiff clash but were architects of their own downfall.
When the heat was on, Edinburgh players panicked under pressure and made some dreadful decisions.
the first Cardiff try had an element of comedy to it that even raised some laughter from the Edinburgh fans.
Jarrod Evans, who had men over on his right, put in a high diagonal cross kick that Nathan Fowles looked up at then ran across the pitch to gather with his back to play.
He misjudged the flight of the ball and before he could turn round it bounced off the top of his shoulder, over his head and into the arms of Ellis Jenkins. the Cardiff man couldn’t believe his luck as he touched down to score.
When the laughter subsided Evans put over the conversion. the fly-half went on to put over one other and also two penalties.
Cardiff’s second try wasn’t much better from an Edinburgh defensive point of view and came from another mistake.
Gareth Anscombe put in a grubber kick that found the hands of Blair Kinghorn, who had time to think about what to do. Maybe too much time because he got so mixed up, he ended up throwing the ball up into the air to nobody, assuming one of his team-mates would take it.
Unfortunately they weren’t on his wavelength — but Cardiff centre Rey Lee-Lo was. He offloaded to American winger Blaine Scully, who scored in the corner.
After the Scully try it wouldn’t have taken Mulder and the rest of the X-Files cast long to realise an Edinburgh fightback was unlikely.
Down 14-3 at the break, the best that can be said about the second half was that the home side did play a bit better but still never looked like winning.
Even when Duncan Weir — who scored 16 points in the last 19 minutes of their Pro14 win over Connacht the previous week — came on, there was still hardly any spark in their attack.
Wingers Duhan van der Merwe and Dougie Fife could have gone off and nobody would have noticed considering the lack of service.
Only Kinghorn showed any initiative going forward. the best break of the game for the home side saw him being held up just metres short of the line with 15 minutes left.
As play was recycled, Cardiff try scorer Jenkins was sin-binned for cynically knocking on to stop a possible Edinburgh try.
Even when they had a man advantage, the home side hardly troubled the opposition line and finished the game not with a bang but with a whimper.
One of the few Edinburgh players who did earn pass marks was second-row Grant Gilchrist, whose frustration was clear to see out on the park. He did his best to inspire his team and was the most vocal Edinburgh player but it made little difference.
‘We are gutted after that,’ said the Scotland international. ‘that was a massive game for us but we were just inaccurate at vital moments.
‘We were a little bit clunky with our handling and lost a key setpiece at a key moment. In big games like this, it really costs you when you make mistakes.
‘In saying that, we have had enough positive results this season and know how good we can be.
‘Luckily for us, the season is still massively alive as we can still make the league play-offs. We will learn from this cup defeat. We can bounce back from this, no question.’
It won’t be as simple as that as it will be a real test of character for Edinburgh to win against Ulster in the Pro14 at Murrayfield on Friday evening. the Belfast outfit are likely to have Ireland Grand Slam heroes like captain Rory Best back in their line-up.
Cockerill’s team are in the third and final play-off place in Conference B of the Pro14. Victory over Ulster will all but secure them that position and end the hopes of the Northern Irish outfit.
Let’s hope Edinburgh have learned their lessons from the Cardiff Blues game and don’t freeze on the big occasion and let themselves down for a second week in a row.