Edinburgh Rugby create unwanted history in South Africa but Sean Everitt insists he can turn it around

Record first-half deficit compounds worst-ever start to URC season

Sean Everitt insisted there was no need to panic despite his Edinburgh side conceding 48 unanswered points in the first half of their United Rugby Championship match against the Emirates Lions in Johannesburg.

The home side won the game 55-21 as Edinburgh rallied after the break but it is now three defeats in a row for the capital side, their worst start to a URC season.

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The Lions ran in seven tries during an abject first half for the visitors at Ellis Park but Everitt is adamant he can turn things around. Edinburgh’s next two games are at home, against the Stormers and Cardiff.

The 48-0 deficit at half-time is the worst ever in the history of the URC and its previous iterations, the Pro14, Pro12 and Celtic League, surpassing Cardiff’s 46-0 interval lead over Connacht in 2008.

For all that the Lions were good - and they were - Edinburgh played into their hands, feeding their opponents with loose kicking and the concession of turnovers. The South African side didn’t need any encouragement, unleashing an impressive repertoire of skill and pace during an opening 40 in which they ran amok. They were averaging more than a point a minute as they racked up the tries against bewildered opponents. Edinburgh salvaged a modicum of pride in the second half, scoring three converted tries, but the game had long ceased to be a meaningful contest and Lions winger Rabz Maxwane had the final say, scoring his hat-trick try in the 72nd minute

Edinburgh took a total of three bonus points from their opening two defeats, against Leinster and the Bulls, but they left Joburg empty-handed and things are unlikely to get any easier when they face 2022 URC winners the Stormers at Hive Stadium next Saturday.

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“There's no need to panic,” said Everitt, who batted away a question about his own position. “We're in round three of the URC.

Emirates Lions winger Edwill Van Der Merwe on the attack against Edinburgh during the South Africa side's 55-21 win in Johannesburg. (Photo by Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images)Emirates Lions winger Edwill Van Der Merwe on the attack against Edinburgh during the South Africa side's 55-21 win in Johannesburg. (Photo by Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images)
Emirates Lions winger Edwill Van Der Merwe on the attack against Edinburgh during the South Africa side's 55-21 win in Johannesburg. (Photo by Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images)

“It's been a tough start. It's a tough game coming up against the Stormers. We’ve played Leinster, we’ve played Bulls away, Lions away. We're going home to Hive to play against the Stormers, so we'll be confident that we can win at home.

“This competition is unforgiving. Munster found out last week against Zebre that whichever opposition you play on any given weekend, it's going to be a tough game. It's just the way the competition has grown and I think it's great for the comp that every week you're going to get a tough game.”

Everitt blamed his team’s failure to execute the game plan in the first half which played to the Lions’ strengths by giving them transition ball. Edinburgh were guilty of kicking the ball to their opponents with alarming regularity and the Lions revelled in the unstructured environment.

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“No one prepares you for this,” admitted Everitt. “It was a very disappointing first 40 minutes. It was everything that we spoke about during the week. We didn't stick to the plan. We needed to win the transition battle. It was one of our three key points going into this game. We went off our kick strategy. We had to kick the ball out because they're a dangerous counter-attacking team, as we know.

“They thrive on transition rugby and they're a transition team. Then we gave them five turnovers and transition tries before half-time. It’s very disappointing when a lot of preparation goes into the game.

“We stick to the plan, we tick all three boxes in the last 40 minutes and end up winning the second half 21-7. I think that tells a story. We need to stick to the plan. We need to respect the ball when we're attacking. We need to work extremely hard, especially when you're away from home.”

The usually mild-mannered Everitt admitted the manner of the performance had angered him.

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“I think it's very hard not to be angry when you concede 48 points in 40 minutes, especially when it's in your hands,” he said. “Especially when you have a kick strategy and it's to kick the ball out into the stands and you don’t kick it out into the stands. It does become easier in the second half when you stick to the plan and you stick to the strategy.”

Edinburgh’s tries came from Grant Gilchrist, Patrick Harrison and Ben Muncaster, all from close range. Maxwane was the Lions’ most potent attacker and there was also a double from their other winger, Edwill van der Merwe, as well as single scores from Quan Horn, Rynhardt Jonker and Francke Horn.

Scorers: Emirates Lions: Tries: Q Horn, Maxwane 3, E van der Merwe 2, Jonker, F Horn. Cons: Wolhuter 4, Nohamba 2. Pens: Wolhuter.

Edinburgh: Tries: Gilchrist, Harrison, Muncaster. Cons: Healy 2, Thompson.

Yellow card: Pohlmann (Lions, 65min)

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Emirates Lions: Q Horn; R Maxwane, E Cronje, R Jonker (M Louw 73), E van der Merwe (H van Wyk 62); K Wolhuter (S Nohamba 33), M van den Berg; J Schoeman (H Pohlmann 62), F Marais (J Visagie 62), A Ntlabakanye (C van Vuuren 62), R Nothnagel, D Landsberg (R Schoeman 62), JC Pretorius, J Cairns (R du Plessis 76), F Horn.

Edinburgh: W Goosen; D Graham, M Tuipulotu, M Scott, R McCann; B Healy (R Thompson 61), B Vellacott (A Price 73); P Schoeman (B Venter 57), E Ashman (P Harrison 34), P Hill (D Rae 57), M Sykes (J Hodgson 68), G Gilchrist, J Ritchie (T Dodd 68), H Watson (B Muncaster 54), M Bradbury.

Referee: Adam Jones (WRU).

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