'Am I concerned that Danny knows my pack inside out? No, not really'
Richard Cockerill brushed off fears that Glasgow coach Danny Wilson holds all his pack secrets – insisting there are no mysteries left between Warriors and Edinburgh.
Scotland’s Guinness PRO14 representatives will re-emerge from their five-month Covid-19 lockdown on Saturday for the first of two crucial derby clashes.
The Murrayfield battle will see Wilson take charge of Glasgow for the first time but the former Scotland forwards coach will be on just as familiar terms with the capital city outfit given his two-year stint assisting Gregor Townsend.
Cockerill acknowledges Wilson will know exactly which strings should be pulled as Glasgow seek to unpick a pack containing Dark Blue internationals Stuart McInally, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie and Hamish Watson.
But of more pressing concern to the Edinburgh boss is the knowledge that his side require a solitary point to book a semi-final berth, with Glasgow requiring a miracle to reach the play-offs.
He said: “Am I concerned that Danny knows my pack inside out? No, not really. He sat in plenty of my meetings as well when he was in the Scotland camp.
“There’s no secrets – it’s who can hit the ground ready to go first. We’re ready and primed. Physically we’ll be good.
“Danny’s a good coach. He’s probably not playing for the play-offs, so his agenda may be different.
“He may look at the bigger picture whereas I’ll look at the shorter term of trying to win to get into a semi-final, then you’re a semi and a final from being champions.
“Of all the four teams that are left in it, as we like it we may well be the underdogs. That’ll suit us and we’ll see how good we are.”
When Cockerill was appointed to the Murrayfield post back in 2017, Glasgow were the nation’s dominant force having become the first Scottish side to claim a major trophy with their PRO12 triumph two years earlier.
But the balance of power has now swung towards the other end of the M8 with Edinburgh top of Conference B and third-placed Glasgow off the pace in Conference A.
However, you will not find Cockerill declaring his side the finished article.
“We’re not a team with a huge history of success, are we?” said the former England hooker – who hopes “positive” contract talks with the Scottish Rugby Union can be concluded within the next few weeks.
“The reality is that we’ve done well for us but we haven’t won any trophies and we haven’t got any historic silverware in the cabinet.
“We just need to keep out feet on the ground and keep building what we’re doing.
“Glasgow have won the competition. They’ve been in finals and semi-finals so they have that bit of pedigree that we don’t have.
“We’re building that. For us to win our first piece of silverware would be huge.
“We’re miles better than when we started three years ago in terms of how we operate, the players we have, the squad and amount of internationals we have.
“If we have everybody fit and healthy we’ve got a good enough squad to compete with the Munsters, Ulsters, Glasgows, Scarlets and Leinsters of this world.
“There are some big budgets and big players in those teams and we’re not quite at that level yet but we’re certainly punching above our weight.”
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
28 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
28 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
28 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
28 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
28 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments