Rugby: De Luca makes a case for the defence

Referring to last week’s 48-47 European Cup win over Racing Metro, he said: “That was one of the worst games I have been involved in with Edinburgh in terms of defence.” At the same time De Luca was delighted with the attack: “If the game had gone on another ten minutes we could have scored another three tries. You get a perk when you see they are looking at the bench looking for substitutes,” he said.

Meanwhile, Scotland’s rugby sevens squad were set the task of beating Tonga to save face when the annual International Grand Prix series got underway on Australia’s Gold Coast today.

Skipper Scott Riddell’s side had one pool match left after going down 24-5 to England in their opener then 14-12 against Wales. The Scots scored first through James Eddie, against the Auld Enemy and led Wales 12-7 late on.