Edinburgh’s game in Llanelli is ‘must win’ says Nick Haining as race for URC play-off places hots up

Edinburgh have excelled in Europe recently but their league form has dipped below the standards they set last season and they are running out of games to retrieve the situation.

Nick Haining in action for Edinburgh during the recent BKT United Rugby Championship match against Cell C Sharks. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

They sit ninth in the United Rugby Championship standings, two points behind the eighth-placed Sharks who have a game in hand, and three behind seventh-placed Benetton. Edinburgh have five games left, three of them against Irish opposition, as they seek to finish in the top eight and secure a place in the play-offs. First up are the Scarlets in Llanelli on Saturday and Edinburgh flanker Nick Haining has labelled it “must-win”. The capital club are expected to select Hamish Watson, Sam Skinner and Dave Cherry who have all been released from Scotland squad after not featuring in the opening two Six Nations games. Their presence will bolster the pack as Edinburgh look to pick up after a run of five defeats in their last six URC matches, the last one being a narrow 22-19 loss at home to the Sharks last month.

“We’ve said that to get into the top eight this is pretty much a must-win for us this weekend,” said Haining. “Scarlets are a dangerous team. We previewed them this week and we know they can bring a bit of flair. I think for us, it’s a case of getting the things right that we might have got wrong in the Sharks game because that was so close. If we can put those right then no doubt the result will go our way.”

Results have certainly gone their way in the Heineken Champions Cup where Edinburgh have beaten Castres (twice) and Saracens, teams that finished runners-up in France and England last year, to reach the last 16. The URC has proved to be more of a struggle and Edinburgh have already lost more league games in this campaign (eight) than they did across the whole of last season (seven). They will go into the next couple of games without their frontline Scotland players but Haining has faith in those coming through the ranks. “A lot of the young boys have stepped up - Connor Boyle, Ben Muncaster, Paddy Harrison have all been pretty impressive this year, and it shows there’s really good depth at the club, people you can call on who can step up and do a job,” he said.

Hooker Paddy Harrison is one of the young Edinburgh players who has impressed this season. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

Only league leaders Leinster have scored more tries than Edinburgh in the URC this season but Mike Blair’s side have had less joy off the tee. Prior to the Sharks game, they had converted just 57 per cent of their shots at goal, the lowest success rate in the league. Blair has reminded his squad this week of the success they had in autumn when they were without many of their Scotland players.

“We’re ninth at the moment, two points off eighth and three points off seventh,” said the coach. “These games are really important. I spoke to the group about our away wins against Zebre and Cardiff when we had similar squads with guys away for November and how we attacked those games away from home and in adversity. We stepped up and took the opposition on in those games and we believe we have to do the same thing against Scarlets.”