Bradley: We just weren’t good enough

Positives were few and far between for Edinburgh coach Michael Bradley after his Italian job came a cropper in Viadana on Saturday, losing 25-19.

A losing bonus point – secured by debutant fly-half Harry Leonard in the 77th minute – was about the only consolation to be had on a grim day in the Italian backwater.

Tries by Kyle Traynor and Tim Visser ensured that Edinburgh were still in with a shout around the hour mark, and they may even have snatched an unlikely win had Lee Jones enjoyed a better bounce of the ball late on after a clever break and neat chip ahead.

But on balance, this was a game that Edinburgh probably didn’t deserve to win, a point not lost on Bradley afterwards.

“The pace of our play was too slow,” lamented the former Ireland scrum-half. “We kicked away a lot of possession, and kept Aironi in the game by playing into their hands a bit.

“We were chasing for most of the game and they were definitely worth their win.

“There is certainly a lot for us to work on. We do have a very talented squad but we just didn’t play well, and certainly not well enough to beat Aironi.”

Chief amongst Edinburgh’s problems was a line-out which misfired badly, a scrum which spent most of the match in retreat, and pack which came off second best in most key engagements.

Defence was also an area of concern, especially in the inside channels where Edinburgh looked particularly weak.

The backs, to their credits, attacked well as a unit, and looked threatening from broken play, but were all too rarely afforded the opportunity to strike from set plays. “We struggled in the scrums, we struggled in the line-out, and without that we didn’t have much of a platform to attack,” continued Bradley.

“We had one attack in the first half and we scored a try from it, and that’s what we can do. But we need to be better in creating more opportunities for ourselves. When we achieve that we will hopefully have more consistency in our performances.”

With Aironi missing ten players due to World Cup duty, Edinburgh’s depleted squad could hardly be used as an excuse for defeat, though it’s worth pointing out that of the starting XV, five were under the age of 22, whilst the average age of the away bench was just 20.25.

Of the replacements, 19-year-old Leonard turned in a promising shift on his first senior deployment after coming on for Gregor Hunter five minutes into the second half.

And though he missed one kickable conversion, he showed character in spades to nail his next attempt three minutes from time, putting Edinburgh back to within a converted try.

“Harry is one of those very talented players that is coming through,” remarked Bradley.

“Gregor has been doing well and he deserved his start, but it wasn’t working for us so we said that we would have a look at Harry, and he did well. There are a lot of young player with great potential. Some of these guys will probably be playing in the next World Cup.”

One man who could be playing in this World Cup is of course Edinburgh skipper Greig Laidlaw, but last year’s players’ player of the year was having his own difficulties in Viadana. Playing behind a retreating pack, Laidlaw really struggled to impose himself and was eventually called ashore early in the second half.

His frustration was palpable, and his words accurately summed up a day best forgotten for Edinburgh. “It’s all very disappointing,” he said. “Really, there aren’t any positives to be taken out of it. We got the bonus point in the end and that’s maybe the only positive I can see.

“Maybe it’s good that some of our young boys are playing, but at the end of the day, they’re not coming out to get beat every week. Together with some of the older heads in the side we should be aiming much higher, and we’ll really have to step it up for the arrival Munster next weekend.”

Scorers:

Aironi: Tries – Olivier, Tibaldi, Williams. Conversions – Olivier (2). Penalties – Olivier. Drop goal – Olivier

Edinburgh: Tries – Traynor, Visser. Pens – Laidlaw, Leonard (2)

Aironi: R Trevisan; S Sinoti, R Quartaroli, G Pizarro, G Venditti; N Olivier, T Tebaldi; M Aguero (A De Marchi 58), R Santamaria (capt), F Staibano (L Redolfini 58); J Furno, G Biagi (J Sole 60); F Viljoen (S Favaro 54), N Cattina, N Williams.

Edinburgh: T Brown; L Jones, J Thompson (M Scott 65), J King, T Visser; G Hunter (H Leonard 45), G Laidlaw (C Leck 55); K Traynor (R Hislop 41), S Lawrie (A Walker 75), S Knight (L Niven 42), S Cox, S Turnbull (G Gilchrist 55), D Denton, R Grant, S McInally (H Watson 75).