Eben Etzebeth tussle was 'bit of fun' but Edinburgh need that attitude on Friday

Sharks' Eben Etzebeth, centre, and Edinburgh's Sam Skinner (No 4) were involved in a heated exchange. | SNS Group

Eben Etzebeth is 6ft 8½in and 18st 10lb so it takes a brave man to tangle with the Springbok enforcer.

Step forward Sam Skinner. The Scotland forward got involved in a fairly robust scuffle with Etzebeth during Edinburgh’s recent URC match against the Sharks which saw both players sent to the sin-bin.

It didn’t end there. Words were exchanged as the pair walked off and there was also a shove by the big South African.

Sharks' Eben Etzebeth, centre, and Edinburgh's Sam Skinner (No 4) were involved in a heated exchange. | SNS Group

Skinner can laugh about it now but it is the sort of attitude Edinburgh will need as they seek to keep their season alive in Friday’s win-or-bust game against Ulster at Hive Stadium. It’s the final match of the regular season and the home side are bidding to make the play-offs for the first time in three years.

They need to win, probably with a bonus point, and they need other results to go their way. Skinner feels reaching the play-offs would represent tangible progress for Edinburgh but knows it is an evening when they need to stand up and be counted.

At this stage last season they flopped badly, going down 31-6 to Benetton in Italy. This year’s model feels more sturdy as evidenced by Skinner’s refusal to yield to Etzebeth, although the Edinburgh lock reckons he was duped by his opposite number.

“He got me with his classic move - I should have seen it coming,” he smiles. “It was a good fun match and we’ve got a real good energy around us at the club. You know that moments like this are coming and it’s a bit of pantomime in the game. I had a bit of fun with him off the field, walking off . . . It’s a bit of a laugh, isn’t it? We shook hands after and it was all good.”

He says Edinburgh fed off the energy of the crowd that night and although they were ultimately pipped by a late try from Makazole Mapimpi, Skinner reckons they are going in the right direction and that top eight would be a just reward.

Sam Skinner, right, with Pierre Schoeman during an Edinburgh training session. | SNS Group

“It would be about right, I feel, for where we’re at,” he said. “Obviously we want to be pushing right at the top, but we haven’t earned that right to be there, let’s be honest. So I feel like where we’re getting to, top eight would be . . . not amazing, but it would be a really good place to be, a reward for what we’ve put in.

“But ultimately it’s still not really in our hands. We’ve got to get five points, and then we still need a bit of luck, to be honest. But that’s all we can do, and that’s the goal.”

Edinburgh’s impressive bonus-point win over Connacht in Galway last Saturday has given them a fighting chance and was the latest evidence of improvement. They’ve also beaten the Lions and the Bulls and even in defeats to Bath and the Sharks they have played with a verve that was not always obvious in the first half of the season.

“It’s definitely a step forward,” Skinner said of the Connacht win. “It’s not perfect growth this year, but we’re definitely getting somewhere. We’re getting better. I think we’re working really hard and we’re doing some really good things on the field, but we can get better at some of the basic things.

“We showed some really good fight and desire to not give up, and we got the result in the end, which is really pleasing, because there’s a lot of hard work going on here.”