Allan Jacobsen reflects on eight years of progress at Edinburgh, insisting time is right for Rec win

Published on Friday 11 December 2009 22:08

OF THE MANY things that have changed since Edinburgh last visited Bath's Recreation Ground on competitive duty over eight years ago, the one that is most heartening for the Scots this weekend is the growth in strength and confidence of the visitors.

Then as now, Bath were struggling at the foot of the Premiership table, but having soundly beaten the Scots in their first Heineken Cup meeting, 37-6 the week before, they were expected to hand out a severe thrashing in front of the Rec regulars. It did not materialise as an Edinburgh side even shorn of Chris Paterson, Simon Taylor and Martin Leslie through injury took the game to their hosts and almost pulled off a stunning victory.

Kevin Utterson had scored early on for Edinburgh and it took a fine try by Tom Voyce, created by the England and British and Irish Lions star Mike Catt, to finally overhaul the Scots with ten minutes to go. Edinburgh, skippered then by Graeme Burns, threw everything at Bath but could not get back on top and the hosts duly kick-started their season by going on to beat Swansea and Biarritz and qualify for the quarter-finals, while Edinburgh finished with a solitary win over the Welshmen.

Scotland coaches Duncan Hodge and Steve Scott were both playing for Edinburgh that day, though their chief now, Andy Robinson, was gone from the Rec by then, to start his England coaching career. That leaves Allan Jacobsen, the Edinburgh prop, as the only player to figure then and still be playing tomorrow afternoon.

He recalls vividly the difference in Edinburgh over the intervening eight years. He said: "That Heineken Cup game was in my first couple of years as a pro with Edinburgh. I remember going to places like Bath and Northampton and it was a real eye-opener.

"It was just so different to what we were doing at the time. In the first season I was a pro, I don't think we even played in a league. We played Glasgow back-to-back about a thousand times in a season and we played in the Heineken Cup.

"In my second season we went into the Welsh Premier League, which was quite a big league at the time, and we were going to places like Dunvant and Cross Keys. So to play in games at the Rec in front of a full house was like, wow. It was pretty awesome at the time; a full house. I can't remember what it held then but I remember a really noisy crowd and a real rugby town."

The Edinburgh team then was a merger with the Borders, but it was struggling for the level of competition that opponents in the Heineken Cup enjoyed. It was always going to take Scottish teams time to catch up and while a lack of finance has been a major hindrance, and remains so, Jacobsen is confident that Edinburgh have made huge strides in the last few years.

One Bath player also remains from that meeting, Andy Beattie, who came off the bench in 2001 and will tomorrow make his 200th appearance for the club. The Bath line-up is an impressive one with Springbok No8 Luke Watson now in the side, and dangerous attackers from half-backs Michael Claassens and Nicky Little to a very quick back three of Jack Cuthbert, Michael Stephenson and Nick Abendanon.

Jacobsen points to a new level of depth and competition within the Edinburgh squad and at international level as having raised the bar in Scotland, and improvement in the scrum as also generating new confidence. Phil Godman returns this week and he has the opportunity to show he has learned from an autumn Test series of typically good and poor moments, and an opening Heineken Cup fortnight where the team lost in Paris and then beat Ulster.

"The Heineken Cup is pretty close to international level," Godman said, "and while the senior guys will look to bring experience from the autumn Tests, Edinburgh have been going well and there is confidence building. We're only focused on this game at Bath, but if we win these back-to-back games we would put ourselves in a great position.

"We went to the Scarlets last year and lost a game that was there for the taking, but the longer the game went on last week the more guys showed composure. We have won a number of games this year by a point or two, and the more you do that the more you believe you can do it. Bath are not on a great run, but we know how dangerous they are. Most of their losses have been by a couple of points, and I think it will be a tight game but we're confident we can come out on the right side."

Jacobsen underlined the fact Edinburgh may be more confident than was the case eight years ago, but they remain aware Bath will be too, irrespective of having won only once so far in the Premiership. "We're under no illusions how tough it's going to be," the prop added. "But we've shown over the years that we can win the bigger games, beat Heineken Cup champions and win away in France, and that has built confidence. Now we have to do that in England."