When the schedule for this year's URC was announced a big fanfare was made of the fact there were to be no games in the league during the Six Nations. This was true but it was somewhat disingenuous in as much as there were going to be games the week before and in the breaks meaning that international players, for the most part, would be kept in camp and not released to play for clubs.
And then, the Omicron variant reared its ugly head, government panic ensued, games were cancelled around the festive period and were then subsequently re-scheduled, in part at least to take place during the Six nations window.
For Edinburgh that has meant -
Game v Ospreys away the week prior to the 6N
Game v Leinster the night before Scotland play Wales
Game v Munster in the first 6N break
Game V Connacht in the 2nd 6N Break
Game v Glasgow the night before Scotland play Ireland
2 games against SA sides in SA the 2 weeks following the end of the 6N
Will all be played with shadow squads denuded of their international stars.
For Edinburgh that list is
Pierre Schoeman
Stuart Mcinally
WP Nel
Grant Gilchrist
Jamie Hodgson
Jamie ritchie
Hamish Watson
Magnus Bradbury
Ben Vellacott
Blair Kinghorn
Darcy Graham
Mark Bennett
Nick Haining
Not quite a full fifteen but not a kick in the arse off it. An awful lot of talent that will be largely unavailable for Edinburgh during this period.
It’s not a new phenomenon and neither is it unique to Scotland albeit with only 2 sides providing the vast majority of the Scotland squad it's hardly a surprise when it also hits Scottish sides harder than it does the Welsh or Irish.
Potentially 7 games and 35 points that won't have outcomes you might hope for. It is what it is and as frustrating from an Edinburgh fan point of view I am also a Scot and a proud supporter of the national side and when the games kick off I want nothing more than a Scotland win.
Anyway what i thought we might do is to try and equate what Edinburgh are missing in the relevant games in each position based on their impact on the nearest 6N game they played a part in.
Put simply if player A would have been in the club side on a Friday if not playing for Scotland on Saturday and goes on to score a try or kick a penalty and the actual player playing for Edinburgh in the corresponding position doesn’t what would their inclusion have meant for Edinburgh?
That's relatively easy but I'm also going to try and make an assessment on their impact in terms of turnovers or tackles etc. That may be even more of a flight of fancy.
The whole exercise is just a way to make the normal ‘Edinburgh players for Scotland’ article a little bit different. It's not meant to disparage those actually selected for Edinburgh so please don’t take it too seriously. It’s entirely possible that the players do better for Edinburgh than their Scotland counterparts do for Scotland.
I’m also aware as I've already alluded to that the opposition may have been similarly shorn of international talent. Not when we go to South Africa though because as you may have noticed, they ain't in the 6N.
These are the corresponding fixtures for the purpose of this exercise-
Here's the first of those comparisons. The rest will follow as they happen or as soon as I manage to get my finger out.
Assessment - The game against Ospreys was clearly one that Edinburgh should have won. They dominated almost every aspect of the game, built a decent lead and then failed to close it out. 7 players who were in the Scotland squad to play England would have likely started for Edinburgh and another 2, Darcy Graham and Magnus Bradbury played the full 80 minutes for Edinburgh albeit Bradbury started at 6 in place of Jamie Ritchie.
In light of a fantastic defensive performance by Scotland it would be hard to escape the assessment that had the players been available to Edinburgh and performed at the same levels that the club may have won the game v Ospreys.
Points wise no one was on the scoreboard in either game but even having the opportunity to have that Edinburgh bomb squad to come on would likely have been significant. Darcy played well for Edinburgh and was involved in all the key moments for Scotland,
Edinburgh’s win ratio with Blair Kinghorn playing is double that of when he isn’t so to see him denied to the club and then being an unused substitute was somewhat galling.
Verdict - Edinburgh players were crucial to an awesome Scotland win v England and would also have turned defeat into victory for Edinburgh against Ospreys had they been available. A price worth paying in this instance.
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