Sean Everitt concedes he is under Edinburgh pressure as David Nucifora talks revealed and injury issues

Sean Everitt has conceded that the pressure is on him as he leads Edinburgh into the second leg of the 1872 Cup against Glasgow Warriors at Murrayfield this weekend.

His side were overwhelmed in the first match of the festive double-header at Hampden last Sunday and trailed 33-0 at one point before a late rally saw them lose 33-14. The defeat resulted in them falling to ninth place in the United Rugby Championship, below the play-off places.

Everitt is under contract until June 2026 but admitted that results need to improve if he is to keep his job. Edinburgh’s away form has been particularly damaging. They have not won on the road all season and you have to go back to April’s 24-7 success in Cardiff for their last away victory. The most damaging result was the 55-21 defeat by the Lions in South Africa in early October during which they trailed 48-0 at half-time, a record margin for the league.

Edinburgh Rugby head coach Sean Everitt. | SNS Group

By contrast, their home form has been impressive and they have won four of their five matches at Hive Stadium this season, averaging 40 points per game.

Everitt said his team’s indiscipline in the first half against Glasgow on Sunday was a mitigating factor in the defeat. Edinburgh conceded 10 penalties and had two forwards, Pierre Schoeman and Marshall Sykes, sent to the sin-bin during the opening 40 minutes.

“Well, our job is under pressure every weekend, to be quite honest with you,” said Everitt. “They wrote Edinburgh off when we lost to the Lions, then we came home and we’ve done well at home.

“Yeah, when a team puts in a performance like that [against Glasgow] there’s questions that you ask yourself as well. But then you’ve got to be real. You’ve got to go and look at the rugby that we played, and the discipline. And I think you don’t have to look further than the discipline to understand why it didn’t go our way and why we didn’t have opportunities. In the second half we gave away three penalties as opposed to 10 in the first half. We were leading the second-half score 14-12.

David Nucifora has held talks with Sean Everitt. | SNS Group / SRU

“How do we deal with those discipline issues? We’ve got to confront those and make sure there are obviously consequences for that. But at the end of the day, yeah, it is disappointing to watch a team go 21-0 up at half-time. And then to come out when you’ve had a chat and concede another try as quickly as we did - it was three minutes into the second half . . .

“So when you talk about pressure, keeping your job, like I say, I’ve been coaching long enough to know that we need results to keep our jobs. I feel no different than I did last week.”

Everitt said the yellow card offenders would be dealt with accordingly.

“We’ve got protocols within our group,” said the coach. “I’m not going to share that with you. The leaders take care of the guys that do misdemeanours on and off the field, so they’ll be in control of that.”

Everitt said that he had spoken with David Nucifora, Scottish Rugby’s new performance director, and found it useful.

Hamish Watson could return for Edinburgh. | SNS Group

“Yes, we’ve had long talks about structures within Edinburgh Rugby and I think his focus at this stage is on the pathway system and how to rectify that. Yes, we’ve had regular discussions with Dave with regards to our squad and where we’re going with our squad and it’s all positive. It’s been good to have someone in that role that you can chat to and rub shoulders with and rub ideas off.”

Everitt acknowledged that Edinburgh would need to show more fight if they are to beat Glasgow in the second leg. Asked what the key would be to a home win at Murrayfield, he said: “I think for us to play with more intent. We didn’t win the scrap battle [in the first leg], we lost the aerial battle, I think they got the better of us at the breakdown as well, especially in the first half. So I would say counter-attack as well, attack from turnover. We know that they do turn the ball over because of the way they play and we’ve got to make better use of that. So for me, at the end of the day I suppose if you want to sum it up in one word, it’s putting in more intent in our performance.”

Edinburgh will be without Magnus Bradbury who sustained a head injury at Hampden and Everitt said that Hamish Watson was a contender to return to the team. The British & Irish Lion has not played since October. Ben Vellacott is also unavailable due the ankle injury that kept him out of the first leg.