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'If Cockers signs, that will be the longest a coach has been at Edinburgh for a long time'
Hamish Watson says it is time Edinburgh shrugged off their underdogs tag and accepted their new billing under Richard Cockerill as Scotland’s dominant force. Having spent much of the last decade in Glasgow’s shadow, Cockerill’s team are now setting their sights on eclipsing Warriors’ trophy-winning feat of 2015.
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Murrayfield is the setting for two back-to-back 1872 Cup derbies – the first on Saturday – with Edinburgh needing just a point to secure a place in the Guinness PRO14 semi-finals. The bookmakers are putting their faith in Cockerill’s team after pricing them firmly odds-on to emerge victorious and reach the last four for the first time.
But Watson knows those expectation levels might not sit so comfortably with a team written off time and time again down the years. The Scotland flanker said: “Yeah (we’re favourites) – and we have got to get used to being called the favourites.
“That’s not a bad thing. We have been the underdogs before and underdogs also have a chance of winning games. It can still be dangerous and Glasgow will be really dangerous too. They have new coaches and fantastic players so it’ll be a really tough game.
“But we have to get used to going into games as the favourites and relish that. Sometimes those games are tougher when you’re favourites as you have more expectations on your shoulders. We need to get used to that now and not just think we always want to be the underdogs.”
We're ?? for Saturday, how about you?
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— Edinburgh Rugby (@EdinburghRugby) August 19, 2020
For so long the top dogs, Glasgow are now getting used to the new order in Scottish rugby. Off the pace in Conference A, new Warriors coach Danny Wilson needs a miracle to rescue their play-offs hopes. But Watson warned: “That creates its own problems. We know what we were like when we only had the 1872 Cup to play for and that’s the be all and end all, so Glasgow will be dangerous in a different way.
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“Normally they are dangerous in that they are near the top of their conference and playing for the play-off spots, whereas that is us this year and they are sort of at the other end. They have got a lot to prove and still want to be the strongest team in Scotland. We know how dangerous that is.”
Glasgow became the first Scottish side to claim major silverware with their league triumph five years ago. At that point, Edinburgh’s prospects of making a similar trophy tilt looked distinctly remote. But Cockerill’s 2017 arrival transformed a club seemingly content to dish out the odd upset in their local skirmishes with Warriors into a team capable of conquering all.
As well as their PRO14 ambitions, Edinburgh are also eyeing up a European Challenge Cup quarter-final against Bordeaux-Begles next month, so it’s little surprise that the Scottish Rugby Union is keen to tie down Cockerill on a new deal before his current agreement expires at the end of the campaign.
“If Cockers signs, that will be the longest a coach has been at Edinburgh for a long time,” Watson added about coach Cockerill, who carved out his no-nonsense reputation at Leicester. “We needed that continuity. It’s good to have a figurehead like Cockers stay around for a long time. You see that in any successful team, you need a coach to be there for a long period.
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“You can see the environment he is bringing to the club and where we have come from in the last three years, so it’s massive for the club. We’ll see how long he signs for and hopefully we can build from this season and finish it on a high.”
“They are maybe in the academy, maybe at stage 3, but just falling through the system because they can’t afford to live off the academy wage at 23."@EdinburghRugby tyro @Darcy_Graham fears for the Scottish heartland that produced him, writes @JLyall93 ???https://t.co/SAHcL8qvkK
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 16, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 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
3 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 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.
30 Go to comments