As I sit re-watching last night's game at DAM Health against Benetton I can see that there is a divergence of opinion within the Edinburgh rugby support.
Some are optimistic and there seems to be another element who if not pessimistic are at least trying to manage their expectations.
Let's take a look at those two positions.
The pessimistic
Edinburgh haven’t played anyone of any stature yet. No games against any Irish opposition.
And that's about it.
The optimistic
We can only play the opposition we are scheduled to play. We’ve had to play Leinster and Munster in the first 7 games of a season for 6 of the last 7 seasons and in the 7th it was Leinster and Ulster so perhaps we are due a scheduling break.
Equally, We have a generally poor record at Rodney Parade and have struggled to get points against Benetton and even Zebre have caused us problems in recent history. We now have comfortable wins against all of those sides this season.
We have never had 28 points after 7 games in the history of the club as a professional entity.
We have NEVER had 6 bonus points after 7 games.
We are playing a much more rounded game. Forwards are still fronting up but our backs are much more than just a defensive unit now. To illustrate that so far this season Edinburgh have scored 23 tries, 4 by forwards, 19 by backs. Last season it was 11 tries and 5 of those were by forwards. There was also a penalty try that came from a collapsed maul which effectively makes it a forwards try. Quite a change in total and style.
I understand the reticence to get too excited. It could all come crashing around our ears and toot suite too as we approach a demanding period of the season but if we can’t get excited about the start we’ve had then why bother at all.
It's a bit like when you used to be able to watch the National Lottery draw. If the first 2 numbers picked were on your ticket then your pulse probably quickened a bit. If the next one was yours too then you’ve probably sat forward on your seat in anticipation.
That's where we are just now. Waiting on the numbers that make the difference. I’m still excited though.
No match report
There's no match report here for either the Dragons or the Benetton games. You can get those elsewhere and I recommend The Offside Line for that. I do however want to look at a couple of things from these matches that have caught my attention.
Magnus Bradbury was outstanding in both games. Against Dragons he broke the defensive line on a number of occasions and was everywhere as evidenced by his topping the metres gained and carries stats. Only player of the match Luke Crosbie made more tackles in an Edinburgh shirt.
He continued in this vein against Benetton at 6 and then at 8 when BBM went off injured after 29 minutes. He was again top carrier and only Darcy Graham and Blair Kinghorn made more metres than him. His handling has improved and although he’s still not a guy you'd expect to get a scoring pass from you can’t have everything. He was a decent candidate for POM against Dragons and perhaps the fact that it was his 100th cap for the side against Benetton probably just edged it for him.
the usual, early days qualifier applied, he is definitely making a case for a proper return to the Scotland squad for the 6N.
The other player I want to big up is Blair Kinghorn. He had a very good game against Dragons, as did everybody in Blue and burnt Orange but against Benetton his input was instrumental in winning the game for Edinburgh.
For the first try he gave the scoring pass after drawing his man.
For the second try, his carrying of the ball from Edinburgh's 22 all the way through heavy traffic up to the Benetton 22 led directly to Boffelli scoring in the opposite corner.
A turnover on our own 5 metres line that saved a probable try.
He scored the third himself.
It was notable that all of these moments bar the third try came in the first half when he was still pulling the strings at 10. When he was pushed out to the wing when Hoyland went off his influence on the game dwindled. 3 tries in the first 45 minutes by backs. 1 in the remaining time scored by Stuart Mcinally after a maul. Influence much?
His restarts are brilliant and always allow for competition at the breakdown.
He doesn’t get it right every time but doesn’t fluster or let the mistakes throw him off track.
In isolation his goal kicking numbers may not be great but I think taking the Benetton match as an example, 2 of Edinburgh's 4 tries were right in the corner. Those were the misses. The other 2 weren’t gimmes but he got those. A lot of Edinburgh tries this season have been scored in wide areas so that has to be taken into consideration.
He’s a novice 10 despite having played there at school and very briefly in past seasons for Edinburgh (A 78-0 win against Krasny in 2017) but on the evidence so far I’d say even if everyone was fit Blair is our first choice at 10. *
*He’s not played against any good teams yet ;)
Comments
Post a Comment