Parks plays down Edinburgh’s Metro marvel as he focuses on cup progress

EDINBURGH’S audacious comeback which secured a thrilling victory over Racing Metro 92 three weeks ago will live long in the memory of the 5,809 fans lucky enough to be in the Murrayfield crowd that night.

But as Edinburgh and Cardiff now prepare for two meetings that will go a long way to determining which of Pool 2’s unbeaten sides qualify for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals, players in both camps are playing down the 48-47 stunner.

Dan Parks is one of 11 changes to the shadow Cardiff team that shipped 52 points at Leinster in the RaboDirect Pro12 last week, when Edinburgh were putting 50 on Aironi at Murrayfield. The Blues return to the impressive line-up that defeated London Irish and Racing Metro in the opening Heineken Cup rounds, but with top performers Leigh Halfpenny, Jamie Roberts and skipper Paul Tito all starting.

Parks told The Scotsman that the loss in Dublin has meant little to the players returning this week, and that they remain confident, but wary of Edinburgh.

“Their game with Racing was unbelievable,” he said. “Every team has struggled against Racing in the Top 14; they build games very well. But I think because they got into such a lead, they thought they could then throw the ball about and that played into Edinburgh’s hands.

“But it was a unique game and so we haven’t looked at it too much. We’ve studied other games, and the players coming through. You’d expect guys like Phil [Godman], Mike [Blair] and Ross Rennie to be starting, but other guys have come in and done well and they deserve their spot; guys Cardiff don’t know much about. But our focus is big on the Heineken Cup. Last year we started it well, lost to Castres and then it was over with two defeats to Northampton, so we know how important these back-to-back matches are. Lose and you’re probably out; win and you’re well on the way to the quarter-finals.”

Parks’ Scotland team-mate Nick De Luca was a key man in Edinburgh’s recovery against Metro, leading by example with some outrageously impudent handling manoeuvres at the heart of the four tries in the last quarter. “He thought he was Carlos Spencer out there,” joked one of his team-mate afterwards. But the 27-year-old playmaker insists he would have been satisfied if the match had been won in a more conventional manner. “As a fan it was an amazing game to watch with tries and comebacks all over the place,” he conceded, “But as professional rugby players who want to do well in this competition, we do not want just to entertain. We want to win and we won’t keep on winning if we defend like that again.

“Having been 17-3 up, we should have been comfortable from then on in, but we didn’t catch two restarts, which allowed them back into the game, and before we knew it we were 24 points down. It was fantastic to get back to win it, but we should never have put ourselves in that position. Currently we are the Edinburgh Globetrotters and we can’t have that. We are good individually in defence and we have shown at times that we can defend as a team. If we get both parts of the game right then I don’t see anybody being able to live with us, but it is very difficult to get both right.”

Games between these two sides are usually close and the Blues have a reputation for good basics and powerful running, where the back row and breakdown battle looms large over proceedings. Edinburgh have lost their big lock Grant Gilchrist to a shoulder injury so, while Sean Cox will bring experience, the lineout loses height, increasing the onus on Ross Ford and Esteban Lozada to be clever and accurate against Bradley Davies and Paul Tito – David Denton may figure more prominently than ever – and the whole team at restart time.

Parks and De Luca both expect a tight, hard-fought affair in the Welsh capital tonight and De Luca insists that there has to be a greater desperation from his side about stopping Cardiff runners and protecting their line. But De Luca is still De Luca and, with wingers Tim Visser and Lee Jones screaming at him for the ball, the ebullient centre is not calling for a shackling of Edinburgh’s ambition. He added: “We’re not the biggest side in the world so we can’t just arm-wrestle teams, which means we have to out-think and out-run them.

“It can look a bit harem-scarem at times, but it is coming off for us. That is the confidence we have. We are trying things – little tip-ons, little flicks, behind the back passes – and, because it is coming off, it’s great.

“The London Irish game was great, but we let Aironi score two tries which they shouldn’t have last week and, against Racing Metro, it was five. This weekend we are looking to give a performance closer to London Irish defensively and Racing Metro in terms of attack.”

The excitement in both camps is clear. Parks said: “This is big. It’s great to see the Scottish teams playing well and that will be fantastic when we get to Six Nations time, but we’re going well too and my focus is on helping Cardiff move a step closer to the quarter-finals.”

De Luca added: “Usually, we are at this stage thinking we need four from four to go through, but this time we have two wins in the bag already, which is great.

“There is talk about being content winning the games against Cardiff on aggregate, but we then have Racing Metro away and London Irish at home and neither of those games is going to be easy, so we have to win every match. That is the mindset we are going to Cardiff with.”