'Fraser Brown can think what he wants - he's on holiday'
“Breathe it in!” roared Richard Cockerill, the snarling Edinburgh head coach, as his players hacked and spluttered their way through a warm-up in the white-hot Stade Felix Mayol. “It’s atmosphere!”
The “atmosphere” in question, spewing and churning across the arena, was tear gas. Supporters hauled jackets and scarves over their faces to shield themselves from the stinging pain. Up on the commentary gantry, Jim Hamilton and Scott Hastings posted a video showing the mayhem erupting all around.
Cockerill’s approach? Inhale it. Embrace it. Own it. When the noxious fumes cleared, Edinburgh delivered a performance for the ages, castling the French behemoths on their own patch.
Bill Mata’s offload, gloriously taken by James Johnstone for the latter’s try, made you wonder whether the Fijian had some kind of joint condition that allowed his arms to move in a different plane to the rest of us. Edinburgh fronted up and conquered the Mayol, tear gas and all.
The coach’s general disdain for weakness is reflected in his team. Tear gas wouldn’t have stopped the Leicester Tigers and the ABC club in Cockerill’s day. In fact, you fancy he would have taken the field with a canister stuffed into his sock if he felt he could get away with detonating it under the nostrils of an opposition hooker.
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— Edinburgh Rugby (@EdinburghRugby) September 4, 2020
The only smoke bombs this week as Edinburgh prepare for their maiden Guinness PRO14 semi-final against Ulster at Murrayfield have been the verbal ones tossed by Cockerill in the media. The belligerent Englishman is always good value, entertaining but calculating in the juicy quotes he offers and the narrative he spins.
First, there was a searing put-down for Fraser Brown, the Glasgow captain. Brown had questioned the legality of the Edinburgh scrummaging in the wake of their win over a side heavily rotated by Cockerill. “Fraser Brown can think what he wants. He’s on holiday,” said the coach.
What about the notion that having topped their conference and won eleven of their 15 games, Edinburgh are favourites to reach the final? “I’m not sure we can be favourites, surely,” said Cockerill. “Ulster have won the competition before, they are in the Champions Cup quarter-finals against Toulouse and they are the club with all the history of being successful, so surely that makes them favourites.
“The pressure is on them, they are the team that should deliver. They are a team that should expect to beat Edinburgh. I would think there is more pressure on Ulster to win than us.”
As for Edinburgh’s status among the four semi-finalists: “We are the least favoured team, but we back ourselves to see how far we can go in this competition. With the money that’s in the other teams and their budgets, we are doing pretty well for ourselves and are probably batting above our average.”
Ah, poor little Edinburgh with their tiny fanbase rattling around inside cavernous Murrayfield, meagre war chest, bleak track record in major tournaments and callow group of players. Cockerill, as they say, is at it with this stuff – Edinburgh are favourites among all of the bookmakers and the bookmakers have earmarked them so for a reason. The semi-final is a game they should win.
This is unfamiliar territory, though. Edinburgh have never been here before. Cockerill got them to the PRO14 knockout phase for the first time in his debut season, but nobody expected them to go to Thomond Park and topple Munster, albeit they were pretty close to doing just that.
They were sunk again by the same opposition in the Champions Cup last eight the following year, another hard-luck story. How will they now handle being the fancied team? Is home advantage much of an advantage at all when none of your supporters can get in to make the place a cauldron?
"Compare Cockerill’s win percentage to his 4 permanent predecessors and he handsomely outstrips them all… by any objective measure, Edinburgh are a team transformed"
– Stirring ode to Scotland's current fave Englishman by @JLyall93??? @EdinburghRugby https://t.co/K0NtUqCXGw
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 27, 2020
Ulster have some mighty customers of their own and in Dan McFarland, a fabulous technical coach who made a big impression on Scottish rugby. As forwards coach, first at Glasgow then the national team, McFarland upgraded both packs, turning scrums and mauls into serious weapons. Gregor Townsend thought very highly of him and was loath to see him go when the opportunity to take a top job arose.
McFarland joined Ulster at a time when the province was beleaguered and ravaged by scandal after the Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding affair. Jono Gibbes had taken over as head coach and left soon after, citing family reasons. Ulster finished fourth in their PRO14 conference and missed out on the Champions Cup quarter-finals.
McFarland has done a fine job in revitalising the storied old side, taking them back to the PRO14 semi-finals in his first season at the helm, even if they copped a real hiding from a rampant Glasgow. He has got them to another semi-final this term and booked a quarter-final date with Toulouse in a few weeks after a stirring Champions Cup campaign where Bath (twice), Harlequins (twice) and Clermont were put away.
His three big injury doubts – Jordi Murphy, Jacob Stockdale and Stuart McCloskey – have been passed fit and start at Murrayfield. Stockdale, at his best, is one of Europe’s deadliest finishers and so much of what Ulster do is channelled through the bullocking McCloskey, a giant centre with footballing talent.
John Cooney is another totemic playmaker and game-breaker. Marcell Coetzee is a huge asset in the back row and his head-to-head with Mata will be colossal. The bench is laden with experience and Test quality in Jack McGrath, Marty Moore and Ian Madigan.
Ulster also have rare insights into how Edinburgh operate. Not only have they got the nous of McFarland, but they have the great Edinburgh stalwart and former assistant coach Roddy Grant, the former managing director Jonny Petrie, and even the club’s former head of communications on staff.
Cockerill has a near-fully fit squad at his disposal. Jamie Ritchie and Ben Toolis have not played a minute of rugby since the season’s resumption, but they are needed and available and they will have important roles to play. Edinburgh’s ability to get their go-to men – Mata, Duhan van der Merwe, Blair Kinghorn and Darcy Graham – on the ball as much as possible in areas where they can do damage will be vital.
The Scarlets, in Dublin and in Glasgow, are the only team to have won a PRO14 semi-final away from home. Ulster have lost their past six knockout games. Edinburgh have lost six matches at Murrayfield in three years, but two of those were against Ulster. Edinburgh sealed top spot with a comfortable win over Glasgow a fortnight ago; Ulster lost to Connacht and then Leinster and have won only three of their past nine away fixtures.
Ignore all the grenades and smokescreens from Cockerill – the tea leaves and the form book point to an Edinburgh home win. There will be no tear gas and no sizzling atmosphere on Saturday, but a glorious opportunity for Edinburgh to step up and break new ground.
With just one win in 14 away to Leinster since ‘nilling’ them in September 2008, the pressure is all on Munster to finally deliver in Dublin
– Liam Heagney looks ahead to the latest all-Irish @PRO14Official semi-final ??? #rugbyhttps://t.co/rcruNlycMF
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 3, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
I certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
1 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
1 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
2 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
3 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to commentsSimple reason for wanting him back. Robertson wants him as captain. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bothering chasing him. Not enough reason to come back just to mentor.
10 Go to commentsI had not considered this topic like this at all, brilliant read. I had been looking at his record at the Waratahs and thought it odd the Crusaders appointed him, then couple that with all that experience and talent departing and boom. They’ve got some great talent developing though, and in all honesty I don’t think anyone would be over confident taking them on in a playoff match, no matter how poor the first half of their season was. I think they can pull a game out of their ass when it counts.
2 Go to commentsNot a bad list but not Porecki and not Donaldson. Not because they are Tahs, or Ex Tahs, they are just not good enough. Edmed should be ahead. Far more potential. Wilson should be 8 and Valentini 6. Wilson needs to be told by his father and his coach, stop bloody running in to brick wall defence. You’re not playing under the genius Thorn any more. He’s a fantastic angle runner. The young new 8 from the Brumbies looks really good too. The Lonegrans are just too small for international rugby as is Paisami, as is Hamish Stewart at 12. Both great at Super Rugby level. Stewart could have been a great 10 if not for Brad Thorn. Uru should be there and so should Tupou. Tupou just needs good Australian coaching which he hasn’t been getting. I don’t think Schmidt will excite him.
3 Go to commentsIf he wants to come back then he should. He will be a major asset to the younger locks and could easily be played as an impact player off the bench coming on in the last 30. He is fit, strong and capable and has all the experience to make up for any loss in physical prowess. He could also be brought back with a view to coaching within the structures one day. Duane Vermeulen played until he was 37 or 38. He is now a roaming coach within the South African coaching structures. He was valuable in the last world cup and has been a major influence on Jasper Wiese and other young players which has helped and accelerated their development and growth. Whitelock could do the exact same thing for NZ
10 Go to commentsBrett Excellent words… finally someone (other than DC) has noted that Hanigan is very hard and very good at doing what Backrow should do… his performance via the Drua sauna was quite daunting for those on the other side… very high tackle count… carries with good end result… constant threat to make a good 20-25 meters with those long legs… providing his mass effectively to crunching the Drua pack… Finally he is returning to quality form… way to much injury time over the last 2 years… smart-strong-competent in his skills… caught every lineout throw aimed at him and delivered clean pass to whoever was down below… and he worked hard for the whole 80 minutes… Ned has to be in the top 5 for backrow honors… He knows what is required as he has been there before…
20 Go to commentsI think Sam Whitelock should not touch a return with a bargepole. He went out on a high, playing in the RWC Final. He would be coming back into a team that will be weaker than last years, and might even be struggling to win games, especially against the Boks. Stay in France, enjoy another year with Pau, playing alongside his brother.
10 Go to commentsRyan Coxon has been very impressive considering he was signed by WF as injury cover whilst Uru has been a standout for QR, surprised neither of those mentioned
3 Go to comments