v Bath Sat 16th 8pm

[doedin]

There was a post on the Embra fans FB page from a family member which said that DeBruin and Venter will both be out for a couple of months, that is a real blow.

We should have WP back for Ulster in the league, given that he attended the session which would reduce his three weeks to two.

That is a really good result tonight, I didn't see the game but from the comments it looks like once we tidied up a bit we ran riot.

To be honest I thought we would struggle in the scrums but both Atalifo and Williams did well at TH and I don't think we lost a scrum. OK there will be bigger challenges ahead but I feel less concerned than I did before the Bath game. Having said that neither are in the same class as Nel who is probably one of the most destructive scrummaging TH in the league?

[Tichtheid]

There was a post on the Embra fans FB page from a family member which said that DeBruin and Venter will both be out for a couple of months, that is a real blow.

We should have WP back for Ulster in the league, given that he attended the session which would reduce his three weeks to two.

That is a really good result tonight, I didn't see the game but from the comments it looks like once we tidied up a bit we ran riot.

To be honest I thought we would struggle in the scrums but both Atalifo and Williams did well at TH and I don't think we lost a scrum. OK there will be bigger challenges ahead but I feel less concerned than I did before the Bath game. Having said that neither are in the same class as Nel who is probably one of the most destructive scrummaging TH in the league?

I'm not the best judge because I am totally biased towards him, my favourite Embra player for many years.

He's been with us for a decade and he just puts his head down, sets the scrum and moves forward, week in week out.
There have been the glory moments of course, the try he ran in from about Corstorphine being one, but he is my type of player. I loved it when he came on against the Bulls and smashed their scrum

[robdinsdale]

There was a post on the Embra fans FB page from a family member which said that DeBruin and Venter will both be out for a couple of months, that is a real blow.

We should have WP back for Ulster in the league, given that he attended the session which would reduce his three weeks to two.

That is a really good result tonight, I didn't see the game but from the comments it looks like once we tidied up a bit we ran riot.

To be honest I thought we would struggle in the scrums but both Atalifo and Williams did well at TH and I don't think we lost a scrum. OK there will be bigger challenges ahead but I feel less concerned than I did before the Bath game. Having said that neither are in the same class as Nel who is probably one of the most destructive scrummaging TH in the league?

Atalifo is a pretty solid journeyman tighthead from what I can tell, he's maybe not a weapon like Nel but he seems reliable in the scrum.

[Martin Bell]

Some views on yesterday evening: http://www.edinburghgunners.org.uk/matchday/reports

Pleased that the club seem to be repeating the approach to ticket sales to ST holders for Wasps that they used for Bath. That seemed to work very well. Hopefully we'll get confirmed dates and times from EPRC soon.

[liveinhope]

Usual brilliant report Martin.I like the analogy of Kinghorn's running to Eric Liddell-would never have spotted it myself but I think you're spot on with the comparison!
( Unfortunately I'm not sure if you're right about us having a home semi should we beat Wasps.The winners play the winners of Lyons v Glasgow. If Lyons win they will host the semi.Should both Edinburgh and Glasgow triumph,however,then I understand we would host the match -which ironically would be the week before the two sides are due to meet at Murrayfield in the final URC league match of the season!)

[Martin Bell]

Doh! You're absolutely right. I see that while we are ranked 3, Lyon are ranked 1, so would indeed have home advantage:https://www.epcrugby.com/2022/04/17/epcr-challenge-cup-quarter-final-fixtures-confirmed/

[GunnerRob]

Great game at the DAM. I thought the crowd really came alive in that game and the team fed off that in the second half. Some great trys and great to see us handing out another pumping, albeit to a team at the bottom of the English Premiership. Really looking forward to Ulster and Wasps in the next few weeks.

That all being said - restarts, restarts, RESTARTS.....

What a disaster! Of the seven restarts I think we only dealt with three. Two were fumbled and two bounced. Two of the Bath trys came directly from us messing up the restarts and handing them possession in our 22.
The worst thing was this continued into the second half and it's disappointing we couldn't learn from our mistakes and tighten up.

[robdinsdale]

Bennett was complaining to the referee about the interference from the Bath players when we were receiving but yes, think we need to be working on that in training this week.

[Trophyhunter]

Good point on the restarts and observed at the time up by a couple of fans near me . Our possession stats in first half day dod not look great and we really had Kinghorn to thank for creating our scores against the run of play with a couple of inspired and superbly executed training ground moves with electric pace from him on loops with Lang who looked more assured in this match . Mind, who wouldn’t be playing outside BK in this form? Schoeman and Gilchrist energised and led a much more effective forward response in the second half that set the tone and platform for a terrific 40 minutes of exhilarating Rugby .Fantastic entertainment and great value for the extras on season ticket.

[Pitfitter446]

Spent Friday evening in the company of a couple of Bath fans -not at the game unfortunately- all smiles in the first half but that soon changed at the restart. They predict we should continue to progress in the tournament, hope they're correct.