Rugby: Edinburgh can munch Munster claims Ford

Published on Tuesday 7 September 2010 11:47

ROSS FORD believes Edinburgh Rugby have finally laid their Munster bogey - and the 40-cap ace is looking forward to proving it at Murrayfield on Friday night.

A four-match winning streak for Munster at Scottish HQ was finally broken last season when four Chris Paterson penalties contributed to a 12-7 Edinburgh win in the Magners League.

Urging colleagues to ensure that that success does not go down as a flash in the pan 26-year-old Scotland and Lions hooker Ford said: "Munster are a very good team with lots of experience and some young players learning all the time from the older hands.

"But we beat them last year at home and hopefully we can do it again this time scoring tries.

"It's certainly a good starting fixture for Edinburgh because to see off opponents of their calibre sends out a positive statement right at the beginning of the campaign."

While Munster, twice league champions in 2003 and 2009, overcame Italian newcomers Aironi last week Edinburgh went down 23-34 at Cardiff.

If the result was disappointing the Scots performance did draw commendation from Cardiff coach Dai Young, who said afterwards: "Edinburgh will have gone away quite encouraged because for times they made it very difficult for us.

"We scored good tries but they were also break-away efforts."

Agreeing, Ford said: "Two of the tries Cardiff scored came from our mistakes. "In the whole game we put some good phases of play together. But when we got to their '22' we took the pressure off.

"It is about (now) trying to sustain that level of performance through 80 minutes by being more accurate and consistent."

One of the key factors will be Fijian international recruit Netani Talei whom Ford insists will quickly become a fans' favourite.

"The number of ball-carries performed by Netani was well into double figures, possibly the high 20s.

"He is a great player and a very powerful No 8. Aside from that he is a great guy to feed off and somebody who is always very upbeat.

"Likewise, another of our newcomers who made a competitive debut at Cardiff, prop Jack Gilding, is also proving a good influence on our dressing room," said Ford.

If Talei is one of the new boys it was significant that both Edinburgh tries in the opening match came from a familiar source.

Referring to Tim Visser, a two-try winger whose league tally is now 12 from 18 appearances, Ford said: "Tim is becoming a bit of a try-scoring machine when he gets the ball in his hands." Compared with 2009 when he toured extensively with the British and Irish Lions Ford will surely benefit from a substantially greater off-season this time round.

"This summer's Scotland tour of Argentina only lasted two and a half weeks so I've had time for a holiday and a good pre-season programme," acknowledged Ford, adding: "I'll look to play every game but at the same time there is a long season ahead particularly with the two Italian sides coming into the league."

Aironi may have lost out 17-33 to Munster in their pipe-opener but Benetton Treviso overcame Llanelli Scarlets and Ford said: "I'm sure the Italians will add a lot.

"It's too early to be judging them but even to have the Magners League broadening its appeal into Europe has to be good for players and spectators alike."