‘Not what we were looking for’ admits Edinburgh coach

IF THE old stage adage about a poor dress performance precedes a great opening night then Racing Metro are in for a fearful cuffing next Friday evening in the Heineken Cup because Edinburgh were plain awful last night, falling to Ulster by four tries to two and one of them was an absolute gift.

Pouring himself a cup of tea, someone pointed out to Michael Bradley that the water had long lost all its heat. “Ah, cold tea,” he said with a grimace, “it’s all I deserve after that performance.

“I suppose first of all you have to give credit to Ulster. They played very, very well but we made it far too easy for them.

“We were careless with ball in contact and you cannot do that against quality opposition. We made them look very good. I thought they were very good on the night but we just made it far too easy for them.”

Even after conceding two tries in the space of two minutes around the half hour mark Edinburgh were still in well in contention after Greig Laidlaw ended the first half with a penalty kick that dragged his side to within six points of Ulster.

The real damage was done immediately early in the second half when Ulster scored twelve unanswered points.

“It’s not what we were expecting and it’s not what we were looking for,” Bradley continued, looking a little shell shocked. “We have to pick ourselves up off the ground on the basis that it wasn’t a good day for us.

“We’ve two crucial matches coming up and they (Ulster) are in the same position with two critical Heineken Cup matches in the next two weeks.

“But obviously they got five points against Munster last week and they got five points against Edinburgh Rugby at home here tonight so they are in a very good position and we are not in such a good position having lost the 1872 Cup match at Glasgow and losing again today.

“So we have work to do in terms of getting our heads right in terms of next week.”