Edinburgh Rugby reaction: Motivation warning fired to Lions but Sean Everitt makes tests concession

Edinburgh's players celebrate during the win over Dragons. | SNS Group

Sean Everitt insists his Edinburgh side won’t lack motivation when they take on the Emirates Lions in the EPCR Challenge Cup at Hive Stadium next Friday.

The South African team tore Edinburgh apart in the United Rugby Championship early in the season, winning 55-21 in Johannesburg after leading 48-0 at the interval, a record first-half score in the league.

The result caused plenty of soul-searching at the capital club but they will go into the game in good heart after enjoying a 38-5 home win over bottom side Dragons in the URC on Friday which was as convincing as the scoreline suggests. Paddy Harrison (two), Darcy Graham, Pierre Schoeman, Boan Venter and Matt Currie scored their tries. Aaron Wainwright got one back for the Welsh visitors at Hive Stadium.

Edinburgh's players celebrate during the win over Dragons. | SNS Group

The victory moved Edinburgh up to sixth in the standings as they chase a top-eight finish for a place in the play-offs but they are likely to be overtaken on Saturday with Cardiff, Munster, Ospreys, Benetton and Connacht all in action.

Edinburgh have four URC fixtures remaining in the regular season but now turn their attention to the last 16 of the Challenge Cup.

“There will be a lot of motivation,” said Everitt, the Edinburgh coach. “The Lions would have loved that opportunity tonight with the number of balls that we coughed up and handling errors that we made. That’s what made us suffer at Ellis Park.

“The guys know what to do. We’ve got to look at the second half when we played them at Ellis Park and that’s an example of what we need to do against a team like that. They’re a dangerous team, full of athletes, and they’ve got speed amongst the loose trio as well as really good outside backs. So a massive threat, and we’ll need an improvement on this performance.”

Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt alongside Grant Gilchrist. | SNS Group

While pleased to see his team return to the top eight of the URC, Everitt knows that stiffer tests lie ahead in the league. Their final four games are against Sharks (home), Zebre (away), Connacht (away) and Ulster (home).

“Every five points that you get is going to help the cause,” said the coach. “But it’s not one that you need, you need to finish off really strong in this competition. We need to focus on every game in the URC going forward and try and win them all. That will make life a lot easier come the last round.”