Season Review 2020-2021 part 1

I could sum up season 2020-2021 in one word but this is a blog so I’m sure you want something more than me just saying ‘it wiz pish’ so let's have a go at reviewing it in the round.

We all know it's probably been the weirdest season of rugby ever for everyone and for Edinburgh that meant we were err, ‘competing’ in 3 competitions. The PRO14 or 12 if you just counted the actual teams. The Champions Cup mish mash and the sort of Rainbow Cup.

We’ll deal with the league and cup in part 1 and Rainbow Cup in part 2 along with a summary. 

In September 2020 the previous season was still ongoing and had seen Edinburgh crash dramatically at the semi final stage of the PRO14 against Ulster and a bit more routinely against Bordeaux in the quarter final of the Challenge Cup. So when the new season kicked off in the rain with a home loss to Ospreys (who had just finished bottom of Conference A in the season just gone) it felt like there was still a significant hangover from those recent knockout stage losses.

The only real plus that night was a debut for Dan Nutton.

Two further losses followed in the next couple of weeks against Munster and Connacht respectively. 

The first of those we really should have won. The opportunity for a win against Munster at Thomond Park doesn’t come around too often unless your team name begins with an L and ends with einster and with 5 minutes of the game to go Edinburgh were 18-23 up. Munster’s points had come entirely from the boot of Ben Healy whereas Edinburgh had two tries in their column. Unfortunately we were munstered in the dying stages as CJ Stander was forced over for a try that Healy converted to take the win 25-23

Against Connacht Edinburgh had 17 players unavailable either through injury or international duty and then had to withdraw WP Nel just after half time on Scotland team orders but still had significant quality in their ranks to have done better.  

They did score 4 tries to get a bonus point. All of whom were executed within the 5 metre area. Two of those scores were from Mike Willemse who also had two unfortunate consecutive miss throws with the game in the balance at 19-23 that took Edinburgh from Connacht’s 22 to their own 5 metre line where the Galway side took full advantage and extended their lead.

The standout player on the pitch that night was Connacht’s scrum half Caolin Blade. Nuff said.

Those losses meant the side were now nursing a 6 game losing streak. Something the club hadn’t done since 2012 so the win against Scarlets in Wales that followed and bizarrely the nature of it was a real fillip for us all.

Again it appeared that Scotland requirements entailed that WP Nel start the game on the bench but an injury to Murray McCallum after only 8 minutes forced our hand. The weather that evening was horrific. A huge storm was blowing in Wales with games elsewhere in the principality being called off so a night for running rugby it was not.

That suited Edinburgh who with the scrummaging prowess of a clearly motivated WP Nel to the fore pushed Scarlets all over the park. The Welsh side conceded 19 penalties to Edinburgh’s 4. It wasn’t a thing of beauty in the traditional sense but you couldn't take your eyes off it. Two penalties from Jaco van der Walt gave the points to Edinburgh.

The other notable thing from this match was the horrible injury sustained by George Taylor following what could only be described as a flying head butt from Scarlets Joshua Helps left him with a broken cheek, nose and jaw. No biltong for him for a while!

Another win followed the next week against Cardiff at home. Edinburgh nilled their visitors scoring two more short range tries in the process. This match was memorable for the fog that made TV viewing all but impossible for much of it and the fact that there were league debuts for Sam Grahamslaw and Dan Gamble.

Another two defeats, heavy ones, followed. Firstly 50-10 v Leinster who at the time had only lost once since 2019 (to Saracens) and to Ulster 14-43.  

Against Leinster the game was over as a contest after 39 minutes as the home side raced into a 26-3 lead. They had the bonus point before half time and never let up, in the second half scoring almost as many points as they did in the first.

In the Ulster game I've noted that their first try came from the result of a forward pass and that their third was truck and trailer off the back of a maul but they did score 7 overall so I'm not sure that matters too much. 

Edinburgh had a try of their own disallowed when Jamie Farndale collected a rebound from a Nathan Chamberlain penalty attempt and touched down only for it to be chalked off after a lengthy TMO intervention ruled he had been in front of the kicker. Shortly after that let down Bill Mata was given a yellow card and the match that had been in the balance at 14-19 in Ulster's favour, ran away from Edinburgh who failed to put any more points on the board in the remainder of the second half .

Two good tries from Jack Blain brightened up an otherwise dismal night.

At this stage Edinburgh had barely been able to put anything like a first choice fifteen on the park but when the league season paused for the Champions Cup the Edinburgh side to face la Rochelle was probably only a Grant Gilchrist sized hole away from being just that. 

It made little difference and Edinburgh suffered yet another home defeat. I wrote in my notes at the time - nothing to report.

The following week Edinburgh travelled to Manchester to take on Sale Sharks to pit brothers Akker and Duhan van der Merwe against each other. At half time with the aid of possibly the most ridiculously overlooked forward pass Sale were 12-0 up and Edinburgh looked devoid of ideas. In fact it took till the 51st minute for the fightback to start and it came through an excellent Mark Bennett try. The conversion and a couple of penalties followed from Jaco to make it 12-13 to Edinburgh. Sale kicked another to regain the lead before yet another van der Walt penalty gave Edinburgh the 15-16 win. 

This was an important victory because as the Champions Cup format was further affected by Covid it meant that Edinburgh would get a knockout game in the revised structure. In hindsight, that maybe wasn’t so good.

The first two of what felt like a thousand games against Glasgow this season were up next. Game 1 was dominated by scrums. Most of which Edinburgh dominated but what won them such a tight game 10-7 was their defence. In the second half Edinburgh had 18% territory yet it took Glasgow till the 79th minute to score any points in the match and that was too little too late for them. 

The reverse fixture at the Scotstoun Athletics Stadium was even closer but unfortunately finished in Glasgow's favour. Edinburgh outscored Glasgow in the try stakes 3-2 and remarkably not one of those tries came from a forward. Eroni Sau’s score in the corner in the 79th minute gave Van Der Walt a chance to win the game for Edinburgh but his kick went wide and a LBP was all that Edinburgh came away with.

It also meant that the 1872 Cup was still up for grabs this season.

I can’t let the story of this match pass without mentioning the train incident. It is the stuff of modern folklore. Nic Groom was in possession of the ball as half time approached. A passing train sounded its horn and Groom, in a fluster, kicked to touch, perhaps thinking that's the half time hooter. Like that's something we have here. Glasgow got the throw  in and a few phases later kicked a penalty. 

There was still a whole half to play but in the end it was a 1pt margin of victory so it’s hard to escape the inevitable conclusion. In fairness though Edinburgh used 2 scrum halves in this match whilst Glasgow stuck with Ali Price throughout whose guiding hand for their young fly half Ross Thompson and the danger he posed himself throughout was the real difference between the sides.

A week later Edinburgh travelled to Parma to play Zebre who were looking for a 4th consecutive win. Edinburgh took the points in a hard fought 10-26 win. Despite a yellow card for WP Nel and a red for George Taylor (on the field for only 6 minutes just returned from his facial injury) in the second half they kept Zebre off the scoreboard all the way from the 44th minute.

A lovely try from Mark Bennett effectively made by the speed of Jamie Farndale put a sheen on it just as the clock went red.

Another two league defeats followed. The first was to Munster at Murrayfield. Edinburgh had the possession and the territory but unlike Munster, who seemed to score every time they were in Edinburgh’s 22, they did little with the ball to threaten the red wall.

The second was to Scarlets. In a departure from recent games Edinburgh tried to play some expansive rugby on a lovely sunny day at Murrayfield. The lead changed hands several times and it would have been an enjoyable match for a neutral. For locals though to lose yet another game at the death after a missed kick left the final score as 25-27 was a blow.

There was some good news the following week against Connacht at The Sportsground. It was certainly a good night for Nathan Chamberlain. His first half break led directly to Magnus Bradbury’s maul try and then as the clock was just about to go red at the end of the game a piece of individual skill from the Academy fly half saw him score under the posts to leave only the conversion to win the game. He did kick the conversion but by then Premier Sports had decided that the Serie A highlights had been waiting long enough and cut to that without so much as arrivederci. 

That left fairly meaningless away games against Cardiff and Dragons in the league to play. The meaningless nature of them was reinforced by the fact that the match against Dragons took place the day after the league final. Our opponents had the possibility of European qualification but Edinburgh’s league season was done.

The teams put out for both added further evidence of the level of interest and can only be described as scratch. 

Despite that Edinburgh went into the second half against Cardiff with a narrow lead. Unfortunately as the replacements were introduced the game got away from them. There was still a chance of something from the game as the last few minutes were being played though. With Cardiff 27-15 ahead Edinburgh were chasing a LBP and looked to have scored after Kinghorn had chipped the ball through for Sau to chase. The try was chalked off though as referee Nigel Owens concluded that Kinghorn had knocked the ball on rather than kick it through despite video evidence really not supporting that view. That would have made it 27-22 and Edinburgh getting possession from the restart. Instead Cardiff eventually got a penalty and a try quickly followed. Final score 34-15. Quite a turnaround and not really a deserved margin. 

The final game against Dragons was similar in nature but this time it was the first half that was Edinburgh’s undoing. Dragons turned around for the second half 24-5 ahead and cruising after 3 pretty easy first half tries. Edinburgh’s revival didn’t even begin until the 66th minute when Charlie Shiel, on just after HT for Pyrgos, took a quick tap and go just inside Dragons half and ran the length to score, supported by Bennett as the dummy runner. 

3 minutes later Edinburgh got their second try of the half. Blair Kinghorn who had moved to fly half after a first half injury to Jaco made a  break inside Edinburgh’s half before passing to Chris Dean. He took it on towards Dragons 10 metre line before passing back to a supporting Kinghorn who then finished the try off under the posts. Edinburgh dominated the remaining minutes and could have got an unlikely draw at the final whistle if Sau had perhaps dived a little earlier for the corner. It would still have left an unlikely conversion for the extra points however. Dragons were scoreless in the second half so it finished 24-17

There was still the small matter of a quarter final in the Champions Cup against Racing at their high tech shiny amphitheatre in Paris. A game that I imagine that would have attracted a sizable travelling support at any other time. In hindsight this fan is glad he didn't get to go as Edinburgh were made to look like they had never met before and were comprehensively dissected at the molecular level by a Racing side that was sans Finn Russell. Final score Racing 56, Edinburgh 3.

That left the Rainbow Cup to look forward to. I’ll deal with that in part 2.