Edinburgh coach Mike Blair backs new signing for Scotland call-up
Mike Blair believes Edinburgh scrum-half Ben Vellacott could play his way into Scotland contention if he keeps up his scorching early-season form.
The 26-year-old has made a big impression since moving to the Scottish capital this summer from Wasps.
Vellacott was a standout in the victory over Scarlets on the opening weekend of the United Rugby Championship and then scored two tries in Saturday’s narrow defeat by Benetton in Italy.
The recent recruit was born in England but qualifies to play for Scotland through his mother and has already played for the Scots at age-group level.
Edinburgh coach Blair said: “If Ben continues playing the way he’s playing, then he becomes part of the Scotland discussion.
“The good thing for Ben is that he’s got Charlie (Shiel) and Henry (Pyrgos) snapping at his heels here so he knows he’s got to perform well.
“I think he enjoys the hard, fast pitch here and he enjoyed the sun in Treviso (on Saturday) as well as the fact the forwards gave him some good go-forward ball.
“He’s doing great and he’s being pushed hard by the other nines.”
Blair believes Edinburgh need to become better at in-game decision-making after their agonising last-gasp 28-27 defeat in Italy on Saturday.
He said: “It’s a funny one to review because there was lots of positive stuff there. I know it’s easy to say ‘look at the tries we scored’ but in general there were positives.
“There was aggression in the breakdown, the defence was good in large parts, the attack was excellent in large parts. But we also spoke about shooting ourselves in the foot.
“We gave a lot of start points to Benetton and that allowed them to put pressure on us. We gave away nine penalties in the second half, and in the last 20 minutes we gave away six unforced turnovers.
“You do that and you’re going to be up against it. When we take control of the game, we’re a very good side and we’re very difficult to beat but we can’t afford to give the opposition easy ‘ins’ into the game.
“I don’t see them as skill errors, they are mostly decision-making errors, like mental switch-offs. The effort was there, but we need to make sure we’re mentally fit as well as physically fit.”
Edinburgh have the chance to bounce back when they get their first taste of South African opposition in the URC this Saturday when they host a Stormers side who have lost to Benetton and Munster in their opening two matches.
Blair said: “It’s new opposition. We don’t know too much about the individuals but it’s exciting for the competition because they play a different brand of rugby.
“They’ve got a lot of speed in their team and they’ve got a lot of size as well. They were 15 points up away to Munster at the weekend and not many teams get themselves into that position so they’re obviously a really dangerous and competent team.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 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
4 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 Go to comments