Pierre Schoeman insists Edinburgh can leave South Africa 'with a lot of confidence'

Back in the country where he was born, raised and initially established himself as a professional rugby player, it was inevitable that ‘Jock Bok’ Pierre Schoeman would be the target of some light-hearted needle from the home press pack after Edinburgh’s loss to the Stormers at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday – and the loose-head prop didn’t miss a beat before responding.

“Scotland is home now, but it is good to be back for a visit,” he replied, after it was suggested that his move north was a temporary career move. “It is always a challenge against my fellow South Africans, they are a tough bunch, but it is nice as a pack from Scotland and Edinburgh to stand for our country and our city and compete against some of the world’s best players and teams.

“I am so proud to represent Edinburgh, especially against the Bulls last week and the Stormers this week.”

Of course, actions speak louder than words, and Schoeman will be very aware that picking up even one win from these two matches would have been the best possible demonstration that he made the right choice to up sticks and move from Pretoria to the Scottish capital back in 2018.

Instead, he and his team-mates have had to make do with the two bonus-points they collected from their agonising 33-31 defeat to the Bulls two Saturdays ago, to go with a nagging sense of injustice that their scrum domination against the Stormers was not adequately rewarded by Irish referee Frank Murphy.

“Credit to WP Nel, Stuart McInally and all our front-five, they were incredible for us in this match,” said Schoeman, who deserves his fair share of the plaudits too having played 69 minutes at loose-head, during which time he scored the game’s opening try to highlight his contribution in the loose as well as the tight.

“I spoke to their guys after the game and they said they felt they were under pressure in the scrum so that’s something we’ve got to build on. We would have loved a few more penalties during the game but we’ll work on that as we prepare for the Lions.”

Asked by the South Africa press – who have never been renowned for their neutrality – about the possibility that the playing surface was the reason the vaunted Stormers pack struggled at scrum time, Schoeman once again played a straight bat.

Edinburgh's Pierre Schoeman (right) looks dejected as Suleiman Hartzenberg of the Stormers celebrates scoring a try. (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

“There are two sides battling and if one side goes down while the other stays up, it is maybe nothing to do with the surface but how you handle the surface,” he reasoned. “It is their home stadium, and they know the pitch much better than us.

“We should have put more points on the board with a better conversion rate, but I think we take massive confidence out of these two games as well,” he added.

“Last week, the Bulls match was a real big positive and we picked up some points on the road, then this week we were not far off having a good lead at the end of the first half, which would have given us the mentality of ‘let’s get another try or two’ in the second half.

“So, we are leaving South Africa with a lot of confidence. We’re not satisfied. But our set-piece was really good, and there is maybe room for improvement with our speed to set in attack against the Lions next week.”

Blair hits out at scrum decisions after Edinburgh's defeat by Stormers