Capital men face an injury headache for Wasps challenge
EI can’t believe Dave Cherry stayed on. We thought he’d broken his arm
DINBURGH could be facing an injury crisis at hooker ahead of next weekend’s Challenge Cup quarter-final against Wasps.
Stuart McInally limped off early in Saturday night’s home defeat to Ulster in the United Rugby Championship.
It is understood to be a calf problem for the former Scotland captain and the fact he left the stadium on crutches almost certainly rules him out in the short to medium term.
His replacement Dave Cherry then suffered an arm injury but battled on manfully for the remainder of the match.
Indeed, head coach Mike Blair praised Cherry’s courage after initially fearing that his arm might well be broken.
Edinburgh expect to be able to give an official injury update at some point today, but it’s certainly a blow ahead of the European clash with Wasps.
That would leave Adam McBurney as the only viable option at hooker ahead of the meeting with the Premiership side next Saturday lunchtime.
‘Dave Cherry was outstanding,’ said Blair. ‘I can’t believe he stayed on because we thought he had broken his arm.
‘We told him to stay on the edge after he had thrown the ball in (at lineouts) but he seemed to have a magnet on the ball. It kept coming to him.
‘He was outstanding and I thought that epitomised what we are trying to create at the club, with guys doing everything for the jersey.
‘Unfortunately we came up short. It wasn’t through lack of effort. In fact it might have been too much effort because we were not quite composed enough.
‘We were trying to do something every time we had the ball. I’m really proud of the effort but obviously we have come up short.’
Ulster became the first visiting team to win at the DAM Health Stadium this season, ending Edinburgh’s proud home record.
The consolation for Edinburgh came in the fact that they earned a losing bonus point, which was enough to secure their place in the URC play-offs. It was a breathless and bruising affair, with both teams losing several players to injuries at various points. Edinburgh butchered a few early chances then toiled for the remainder of the first half as Ulster took control. The Irish side led 13-3 at the interval thanks to a try from Rob Baloucoune and eight points from the boot of scrum-half Nathan Doak.
But Edinburgh staged a hell of a comeback effort in the second half and threw the kitchen sink at their Irish opponents as they sought to preserve their home record.
It was a heroic defensive effort from Ulster, with a Mark Bennett try being the only time that Edinburgh managed to make any genuine inroads.
Blair acknowledged that Edinburgh had failed to punish their opponents, who had played 20 minutes of the match with 14 men due to two separate yellow cards.
Edinburgh failed to score a point during both of those periods, with Blair saying: ‘Sometimes a yellow card can galvanise a defence a bit.
‘The rain probably took a bit of our attacking edge away. We had to play through the forwards a bit more. But you’ve got to capitalise on opportunities, whether two-onones or when the opposition is down to 14 men.’
Edinburgh now face a trip to either Ireland or South Africa in the play-offs of the URC. It will be a tough quarter-final come what may.
Blair added: ‘When you look at the teams that are going to miss out on the play-offs, there are some great sides there. It’s a good start for us and it puts us in a position now.
‘You get to a certain stage of the competition when you potentially become underdogs, but you give yourself a chance and stay in the fight.
‘We’ve got ourselves into the play-offs and we’ve got a couple of big games before that.’