Sharks win sends Edinburgh to Durban but disruptions will be kept to a minimum

Date and time for quarter-final confirmed as Edinburgh head to South Africa

Glasgow Warriors’ exit from the Champions Cup on Friday means Edinburgh have been left to fly the flag for Scotland in ‘Europe’ and their next port of call is … Durban.

This is the second season of South African teams competing in the EPCR competitions and it is the Sharks who will host Sean Everitt’s side in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals on Saturday at 12.30pm BST. They beat Zebre 47-3 at Kings Park on Sunday in the round of 16, the day after Edinburgh took care of Bayonne at Murrayfield, running in five tries in a 33-15 win.

Everitt acknowledged that a Zebre win would have made life easier for his team in terms of logistics – Edinburgh would have been at home against the Italians – but is confident that another long-haul flight won’t be too disruptive to his team’s chances against the Sharks. Edinburgh are just back from South Africa, having lost to the Stormers and Sharks in the United Rugby Championship. They touched down on Scottish soil last Monday and immediately began preparing for the Bayonne game. Now it’s time for them to pack their bags again.

“We will leave on Tuesday evening, arriving in Durban on Wednesday morning,” said Edinburgh coach Everitt. “We’ll be staying in the same hotel, training on the same training field so there will be familiarity with how the week looks. By leaving on Tuesday night we will be able to prepare on Monday and Tuesday like we normally do. Wednesday would be a rest day, as it would be at home, and then we would be into our final training session on Thursday, so nothing really changes from that point of view, we’ve just got to toughen up on the flight to Durban.”

EPCR, the tournament organisers, are sorting out the flights which means the squad will fly direct to Durban rather than breaking the journey at Doha like they did last month. “The travel is the killer but we’re also excited at the same time,” said Matt Currie, the on-form Edinburgh centre who scored the pick of his side’s five tries against Bayonne. “We’re still hurting from the loss to the Sharks because we know if we perform the way we can we should be able to get a win out there. Apart from the travel, the boys will be excited to get stuck into that fixture and try to get a win.”

Currie’s solo score early in the second half was the kick-start Edinburgh needed after they struggled to break down their Basque opponents in the opening 40. Bayonne, who have not won an away match since November 2022, had made 13 changes but went in at the turn 7-5 up, stand-off Tom Spring giving them the lead, with Hamish Watson’s unconverted try reducing the deficit.

Spring’s second try after Currie’s score edged Bayonne ahead again but Ben Vellacott bagged two tries in three minutes to put Edinburgh in the driving seat. Duhan van der Merwe then powered over to complete the scoring. It wasn’t entirely convincing from Everitt’s side but they got the job done in tricky conditions and are now only two games away from reaching the Challenge Cup final for the first time since 2015. “Like we said at the start of the season, the guys want to win some silverware and I’m sure they’ll be happy to give their all to beat the Sharks next week,” said the coach.

Edinburgh's Matt Currie breaks through the Bayonne defence for an impressive solo try in the 33-15 victory over the French side in the EPCR Challenge Cup round of 16 tie at Murrayfield. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

Should Edinburgh be victorious in Durban, they will play the winners of Clermont-Ulster in semis. The French side would host Everitt’s men, but Edinburgh would be at home to their fellow URC team if both make it through.