Edinburgh Rugby reaction: Potential return trip to South Africa holds no fears, confidence taken from win over Bayonne

Sharks lie in wait in the quarter-finals – if they can beat Zebre

Edinburgh's Ben Vellacott scores the first of his two tries in the 33-15 win over Bayonne in the EPCR Challenge Cup round of 16 tie at Scottish Gas Murrayfield. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

Sean Everitt has backed his Edinburgh side to go to South Africa and beat the Sharks - if that’s who they end up playing in the quarter-finals of the EPCR Challenge Cup.

The Scottish side booked their place in the last eight with a 33-15 win over Bayonne at Murrayfield on Saturday night after trailing at half-time. The Sharks will host Zebre in the round of 16 on Sunday and the winners will take on Edinburgh.

Home advantage goes to the highest ranked side, so if Sharks win they will play Everitt’s side in Durban but if it’s Zebre, the Italian team will travel to Edinburgh. The quarter-finals are scheduled for next weekend.

Everitt admitted that a home tie against Zebre would “certainly help from a travel point of view”. Edinburgh are just back from South Africa, having played United Rugby Championship matches against the Stormers and Sharks. They lost both games but Everitt is confident his team could overcome his former club if there is a rematch.

“After doing a review of the Durban game - looking at the opportunities we created there and maybe some of the soft moments that we gave the Sharks - the players will have belief that they can go there and win,” said Everitt who had a 15-year association with the club between 2007 and 2022, latterly as head coach.

“This convincing win against a good team helps as well. We can’t underestimate the magnitude of this win even though it’s at home.”

The match against Bayonne was switched to Murrayfield from the Hive Stadium because of Storm Kathleen and Edinburgh took their time to get into the game. The French side struck first through Tom Spring’s converted try before Edinburgh hit back when Hamish Watson crossed to leave the hosts 7-5 down at half-time.

Matt Currie edged Edinburgh ahead but Spring hit back with another try to keep Bayonne in the tie. Ben Vellacott, the Edinburgh co-captain, then crossed twice in three minutes and a further try from Duhan van der Merwe completed the scoring for the Scots.

“We made hard work of it in the first half,” said Everitt. “We did everything right - we had 75 per cent territory in the first half - but only finished one out of six opportunities. That’s something that has been plaguing us for some time.

“We had a good chat at half-time, came out, and Matt Currie had a good carry through the midfield to score. Then we scored another two in quick succession, which put us away.

“So I think we’ll take a lot of confidence out of that, because it’s an area that we have been working on. But I’m just really pleased that the guys got through.”

Mikey Jones, the young Edinburgh prop, made his professional debut as a late substitute.