Heineken Cup: Winning mentality the key for Edinburgh in London Irish clash

Published on Saturday 21 January 2012 04:09

EDINBURGH coach Michael Bradley is keeping his focus on the simple message to his players of ‘win and we are through’ but the Irishman is preparing for an incredibly tense finish to the Heineken Cup pool stages against London Irish tomorrow.

The capital side have pushed themselves to the verge of a first quarter-final spot in Europe since what was heralded as the breakthrough season in 2003-4. The SRU’s failure to match that achievement with similar off-field ambition allowed the momentum to be lost, but now the picture in Scottish rugby has changed and so the potential of tomorrow’s game to alter the sport in Scotland is greater.

New SRU chief executive Mark Dodson has switched the focus inside Murrayfield from cutting costs in every department to using savings behind the scenes to invest more tangibly in the rugby. The change has come too late to make a great difference to Edinburgh so far, but there is a heady excitement around what might lie ahead if the team can secure that last-eight place in front of an expected record European crowd tomorrow of more than 8,000.

Bradley’s task is to ignore all of that and keep the focus on the field, but he acknowledged that with his team and Cardiff playing in the last pool games, kicking off at 3.15pm, they would be fully aware of exactly what was needed to claim that holy grail.

He said: “Cardiff will do their business and we’ll do ours, and we’ll potentially keep an eye on the last 15 minutes from the [coaches] box because it is important who wins the group and who finishes runners-up.

“It is an advantage [being the final game], but the message to the boys is ‘be consistent; just go out and win the match and qualify for the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup’. With draws and try counts it becomes complicated and you’re looking into a cocktail of results, but the end game for us will be to get that win and if we do it should get us over the line. That’s it. ‘Win the game’ is the mantra. No matter what happens it is a game at home for us in front of our supporters and it’s one we have to win to progress in the tournament.”

It would be fair to state that Edinburgh’s campaign has had some luck, with London Irish missing a penalty in the late stages of the opening pool match in Reading and Racing Metro 92 losing at Murrayfield only after a last-gasp drop-goal from Argentinian star Juan Martin Hernandez was so uncharacteristically poorly struck that it failed to bother the posts from right in front.

But if there is anything in the saying ‘you make your own luck’ Bradley believes it has lain in Edinburgh’s ability to adapt during these games – most notably in coming back from a 24-point deficit at home to Racing. “If you start with London Irish we came through with a point to spare,” he said.

“Against Racing we were 20-odd points down with 20 minutes to go and won. We didn’t perform well in Cardiff but sorted that out when we came home, so the ability to adapt on the day and or learn from mistakes in the previous week has been a positive for us.

“We do have the ability but don’t necessarily have the consistency yet. But it’s been a while since Edinburgh have been at this stage where the club can qualify and it is a pressure that we’re potentially not used to, so we have to adapt on Sunday again reasonably quickly to get the benefit out of the situation we have created.”

Edinburgh have stuck with the side that defeated Racing Metro, Roddy Grant the one change after Ross Rennie suffered a wrist injury in that game.

London Irish have changed their front row after the defeat to Cardiff but send out a powerful side with key England talents Delon Armitage, Topsy Ojo, Shontayne Hape, Paul Hodgson, Alex Corbisiero and Nick Kennedy, alongside experienced Ireland cap Bob Casey, providing a strong spine through the side.

Their Scotland centre Joe Ansbro is still out with the back injury suffered at the start of the month.

Ansbro is back in training and confident of being fit for the RBS Six Nations Championship. Steve Shingler, the centre who was almost Scottish but not quite after the tug of war won by Wales, starts on the bench as does Scotland U21 scrum-half Ross Samson who scored in the first meeting with his old club, while 18-year-old forward David Sisi, who also qualifies for Scotland but is in England’s U20s squad, starts in the back row.

Irish have nothing left to play for in Europe, having won just one match, but Bradley warned against expecting them to take the game lightly and Edinburgh supporters to prepare for a very physical challenge to their bid to join Europe’s top seven teams in the quarter-final draw, which will be made around 30 minutes after the full-time whistle.

He added: “We’re going into this game with an [home] advantage over London Irish but they have played five games and they have won one with a bonus point and in the other four they were within a score so they are a highly competitive outfit.

“I suspect this will go right to the wire and we’ll be sweating near the end of the game for sure. It’s important that we start well and establish the tone of the match and keep working at that for 80 minutes and if that’s good enough to win the game, fantastic.”

Cardiff have made two changes to their starting XV for the visit of Racing Metro, 3.15pm kick off.

There is one change in the backs with Gavin Evans coming in for Gavin Henson at inside centre and one change in the forwards with Scott Andrews coming in at tight-head for Fau Filise, who is out with a shoulder injury.

Tom James is on the bench in place of Richard Mustoe and Sam Hobbs comes in as front row cover.

Cardiff backs Coach Gareth Baber said: “Our first thoughts are to keep our focus and a winning mentality. We need to get the win and see where we are at the end of it.

“It’s no good talking about winning bonus points because it’s easy to say what you’re going to do before the game but things change during the match.”

• How Edinburgh can qualify (or not)

IF EDINBURGH win tomorrow, they would be guaranteed a place in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals after Harlequins last night lost to Connacht.

There was a mathematical equation that could see Edinburgh win and miss out, but that was exploded by Michael Bradley’s old club claiming their first-ever Heineken Cup win in Galway last night.

So, all that would be left to be decided if Bradley’s new team triumph over London Irish is whether Edinburgh progress as pool winners or one of the top two pool runners-up, and whether they might grab a home draw.

To top the pool Edinburgh have to score one more match point than Cardiff, ie: win with four tries, and so a bonus point, and hope that Dan Parks’ Blues either lose, draw or fail to muster a bonus in victory at home to the French side Racing Metro 92.

With Toulouse also losing to Bryan Redpath’s Gloucester last night - the French team still qualify for the last eight due to Harlequins’ defeat – Edinburgh would then need one of Munster, Leinster or Ulster to lose for them to receive a home draw in the quarter-finals.

If Edinburgh win but without a bonus point and Cardiff win, with or without a bonus, the Scots progress as the best runners-up and would be ranked seventh out of the eight qualifiers.

If Edinburgh fail to beat London Irish, they will drop into the quarter-finals of the Amlin Challenge Cup.

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