‘Prove something’: Edinburgh players can make point after Scotland omission
Final fixture before URC goes into cold storage
Edinburgh players overlooked by Gregor Townsend for the Scotland squad have a chance to show the national coach what he’s missing when the high-flying capital club take on Benetton in Italy on Saturday.
Sean Everitt’s side have won four out of four in the United Rugby Championship, a run which propelled them to the top of the standings going into round five.
A tough test awaits in Treviso and Matt Currie is expecting a physical encounter against opponents who pushed Edinburgh all the way at Stadio Monigo last season before the visitors edged it 15-14.
Only five Edinburgh players were called up this week by Townsend for next month’s Nations Championship games and Currie was one of the unlucky ones to miss out, along with the likes of Magnus Bradbury, Freddy Douglas, Hector Patterson and Ollie Blyth-Lafferty.
URC to go into cold storage
“It's been a positive start with Edinburgh,” said Currie. “We've had success in the URC so far, but playing international rugby for Scotland is a goal, so not being selected, you obviously are a bit disappointed.
“But at the same time, I've got to make sure that I focus on my own rugby and what I'm doing here at Edinburgh. I think that's ultimately what the coaches select on, how you're playing at your club.
“That's obviously the focus going into this next game and then the block following that.”
The URC will go into cold storage for a month after this weekend as the Nations Championship takes centre stage. Darcy Graham, Duhan van der Merwe, Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman and Liam McConnell are the five Edinburgh representatives who were called up by Scotland but it could have been more.
‘Playing unreal rugby’
Currie has been in good form, scoring a couple of tries and linking up well with new Edinburgh stand-off James Grayson and centre partner Mosese Tuipulotu. And there have been others too in the Edinburgh team who have impressed.
“I suppose maybe there'll be boys who are disappointed and want to prove something, but there's still five Edinburgh boys in and we're obviously wanting them to have a successful campaign with Scotland,” said Currie.
“The boys that are here, as I say, we're focusing fully on our game this weekend. Hopefully we've got that cohesion that we've built all through pre-season and we can get a good performance this weekend.
“I don't think it will impact them negatively. As I say, as a team our focus will be this weekend.
“I think you see OBL, Hecky, Freddy [Blyth-Lafferty, Patterson and Douglas], they've been playing unreal rugby and we champion that.
“The way Hecky performed last week [in the win over the Lions], we make sure that he gets the praise that he deserves. But also, I think he's pretty level-headed as an individual and he'll make sure that he's keeping his feet on the ground and wanting to prove himself in an Edinburgh jersey.
“It’s definitely a challenge coming up this weekend. We got a win out in Benetton last year, which was a big result considering prior to that we maybe hadn't had too much success out there.
“We know that as a team they are a real challenge. They're physical, they play good rugby. For us, obviously we're driving to make sure that we get five from five in the URC. That ultimately comes down to making sure that we put our best performance on the pitch at the weekend, because that's exactly what it's going to take.”
Benetton v Edinburgh line-ups
BKT United Rugby Championship round 5, Stadio Monigo, Treviso, Saturday, 3pm GMT
Benetton: Matt Gallagher; Ignacio Mendy, Federico Zanandrea, Paolo Odogwu, Onisi Ratave; Jacob Umaga, Andy Uren; Matias Medrano, Nicholas Gasperini, Giosuè Zilocchi, Mattia Midena, Piero Gritti, Isaia Walker-Leawere, Manuel Zuliani (capt) , Lorenzo Cannone. Replacements: Siua Maile, Ivan Nemer, Marcos Gallorini, Jadin Kingi, Antony Miranda, Louis Werchon, Jean Smith, Francois Mey.
Edinburgh Rugby: Piers O’Conor; Geordie Gwynn, Matt Currie (co-capt), Mosese Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe; James Grayson, Hector Patterson; Alec Hepburn, Harri Morris, Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, Glen Young, Grant Gilchrist, Liam McConnell, Freddy Douglas, Magnus Bradbury (co-capt). Replacements: Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, Jamie Stewart, Paul Hill, Callum Hunter-Hill, Tom Currie, Conor McAlpine, Ross Thompson, Harry Paterson.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.