Everitt keeping eye on an all Scottish quarter-final clash

EDINBURGH coach Sean Everitt admits he is keeping an eye on a potential all Scottish quarter-final in the URC play-offs against Glasgow Warriors.

The Edinburgh head coach watched his side force their way past Cardiff in a difficult match to keep their place inside the top eight.

Glasgow are chasing top spot and if they get that and Edinburgh finish eighth they would face each other in the quarter-finals. The same would happen if Glasgow finished second and Edinburgh ended in seventh.

The two sides have already faced off twice this season with Glasgow winning at Scotstoun before Edinburgh took the spoils at Scottish Gas Murrayfield.

It would be an intriguing prospect in the business end of the season and Everitt reckons two teams in the top eight is a great thing for Scottish rugby.

“I applaud Glasgow for what they have done in a short space of time,” he said. “It’s good for Scotland rugby to have two franchises in the top eight. It shows we are in a good place, but we’ll cheer them on and who knows, maybe we’ll catch them in the quarters?

“We’ve played each other twice already so it would be great. It would cut out a lot of travel for us too.”

Before that happens though, Edinburgh need to keep on winning and missing out on a bonus point yesterday was frustrating for Everitt with the table so tight. Just five points separate Ulster in fifth from the Lions in 11th and any slip up can see the table change dramatically.

It has been a tough six weeks for Edinburgh with two trips to South Africa and that is why Everitt was proud of his players even though they failed to get the bonus point.

“It’s a great away win for us,” he said. “A game we needed to win. I’m happy for the club, Edinburgh hasn’t often won away from home so under the pressure circumstances this was a good win for us. Delighted for the boys, probably disappointed we didn’t get the bonus point but our job is to keep on winning and if we do that then bonus points won’t matter.

“You look at the Lions who are on 39 points and are sitting in 12th, it’s crazy. We’re sitting on 43 and in seventh. The guys in fifth are on 44 so it’s weird but it makes for good competition. We weren’t too far off our estimation at the start of the season, we said 12 wins would get you into the quarters, we’ve got 10 which means we’re another two away and I think that would get us into the top eight.

“We’d like to finish as high as we can in the table and that’s our goal.”