Toolis bemoans ‘stupid decisions’ and says team need to close out games
For Scotland lock Ben Toolis the brief resumption of the 2019-20 season came and went in a disappointing blur on Saturday night as Edinburgh’s hop es of reaching the Guinness Pro 14 final were snuffed out by Ulster.
Toolis had recovered from a shoulder injury to pack down with 150 th appearance man Grant Gilchrist, pictured inset, in the home engine room and got almost 70 minutes under his belt. When he left the field Edinburgh were far from comfortable as Ulster dominated possession and territory but still had a cushion to defend. The second-row forward could only look on helplessly from the side lines as that evaporated and the Irish took the spoils with Ian Madigan’s last-gasp penalty.
“Extremely disappointing. Fair play to Ulster, and to Ian
Ma dig an for those important kicks, but at the same time we need to be a bit smarter and learn how to close those games out,” was the Toolis verdict.
“There have been a few games – Munster in Europe last year and the year before that in the [Pro14] quarters – where we played really well. But there are fine margins, and we need to make sure that when we’re in a position like that we need to better utilise the pitch and not be silly and give them the ball.”
Tool is was at a loss to explain why the knockout jinx continues to hold a grip on a team that has otherwise excelled under coach Richard Cockerill.
“I don’t know. I thought we would have learned from that,” he said. “We were stupid with some of the decisions we made, and Ulster fought hard in the second half and found a way to win. But we just need to make sure that when we’re winning and in a good position, we need to keep pushing and learn how to win those games.”
Toolis rallied around sub hooker Mike Will em se whose out stretched hand stopped an Ulster attack and led to the decisive penalty.
“Obviously he’s gutted, but at the same time… People might say that was the deciding factor, but there was a lot of areas in the last ten minutes that led to penalties that kept them in the game – kept them in our half and we had to defend,” said the Queensland-born forward who now has 25 caps for Scotland.
“Sometimes that happens, and unfortunately for Mike, he’s probably feeling that it was his fault, but it’s not his fault: it’s a collective thing. We need to review, and make sure that we take the positives from the season and push on into next season. And go into Europe in two weeks’ time and try to kick-start.” That game in France may appear to some as a bit of an unwelcome nuisance ahead of a fresh start for the 202021 campaign, but To olis is relishing the chance to play again and have a crack at redemption on the European stage, albeit the secondtier version.
“We want togo to B orde aux,a great team, and if we can go over there and beat them, then we can get on track and I’m sure we’ll get our confidence back up,” he said.
“That’s two losses in a row, and two losses isn’ t good enough, especially with the way we’ve been playing this season. We want to make sure that we get back on the right track and start next season well.”