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Reports & Features

PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW

Edinburgh: 45 (35) Ospreys: 21 (7)



Legendary rugby fan William Shakespeare understood well the mixed emotions that the Embra tifosi felt at the DAM Health last night, as the Gunners rounded off their home campaign with a seven try shellacking of visiting Ospreys.  On the one hand, it is always a sad time as players move on - 13 Embramen will not return next season.  Among them, long time servants of the club in Henry Pyrgos, Nick Haining and centurion Damien Hoyland.  And Edinburgh legend Mike 'Blade' Blair took the courageous decision to say that the head coach role is not for him, so will not be occupying that particular hot seat next term either.

I always loved watching Blair as a player.  Not only was he a joy to watch, but he was the first Scot to be nominated for IRB Player of the Year, toured with the Lions in 2009 and remains Scotland's most capped scrum half.  Although an Embra legend, his playing journey after the Gunners - to France, England and finally Glasgow - gave him a number of different perspectives that would serve him well as he moved into coaching.  From the outside, it looked to me like this cerebral, self-effacing man was destined to become national team head coach some day. Wherever his future takes him, though, one hopes that he will find a new role that alows him to develop his many talents further.

But although we are heading in to the unusually long break that characterises World Cup years, where the regular season will not start until October, if the Embramen play the sort of swashbuckling rugby that we have seen sporadically during the Blair era, the wait will prove well worthwhile.  Who knows who will replace 'Blade' as head coach.  Might it be Lead Rugby Consultant Steve 'Dimes' Diamond, for example?  But, whoever it is, their task will be to bring consistency of performance and physicality; a tweak here and there; evolution rather than revolution.  Are the Gunners in a better place than they were at the end of the Cockerill regime?  To my mind, emphatically yes.

They certainly won this final home match in style.  They got off to a flyer, two tries putting them 14 points up after eight minutes; they were 35-7 to the good at the break.  It was a thrilling display, full of power, pace and guile.  Mercurial winger and Man of the Match Mr Darcy Graham's performance lit up the DAM Health every bit as much as his spectacular hairdo.  The Prince of Hawick scored two wonder tries.  But what was perhaps more impressive was the aggression in defence and the Gunners' refusal to take a step back in the confrontations.  One of the great things about being present rather than watching on TV is that you see what goes on off the ball.  There were a fair bit of afters throughout the match, but the Embramen gave as good as they got, with Jamie Ritchie, as ever, to the fore.

For some years now, the Ospreys have looked like a side that is less than the sum of its parts, although they have shown signs of improvement of late under head coach Toby Booth.  But last night's defeat leaves them sitting a lowly 13th in the URC table, with no chance of reaching the top eight, behind Edinburgh in a no less disappointing 12th.  There were plenty of stars in the squad that travelled north.  But a number are in the twilight of their career and there were times when it showed.  They scored three good tries, with left winger Luke Morgan looking a real handful in attack.  But they were just not at the races throughout this match.  At times, they lost their heads and clearly struggled with some of referee Gianluca Gnecchi's calls. All the same, a bit less arm waving and a bit more graft could have served them better. That home supporters were disappointed that the Gunners did not put 50 points on them in the end sums up this one sided affair.

Edinburgh could not have wished for a better start.  Welsh Wunderkind Owen Williams shovelled a poor pass, which went to ground.  Vellacott gathered the loose ball and sprinted over from distance on three minutes.  There was already an element of showboating as he stroilled to just short of the dead ball line before touching down.  7-0 with El Rey, Emiliano 'The Boff' Boffelli's simple conversion.

It was another regal figure, Blairhorn, who conjured the Gunners' second, on eight minutes. The pack punched holes in the visiting defence before The King took the ball up in traffic and superbly offloaded to the supporting Dave Cherry.  The world's most attractive man scooted over to double the advantage in a try that owed much to the first five-eighth's creativity.

The Ospreys came close to their first of the night when the impressive Morgan looked to be certain to score, only to be denied by an excellent last ditch tackle in the corner.  But the try was only delayed.  Edinburgh's lineout was pretty sound most of the match once they had got their act together, but on this occasion, they lost the ball at the defensive lineout and Lake crashed over on 11 minutes to narrow the gap to 14-7.  Already, this one had the look of a high scoring thriller.

The Embramen enjoyed further pressure, denied only by their sputtering lineout.  Eventually, that pressure told on 17 minutes as repeated forward breenges saw Skinner power through the defence for the third try, again converted by The Boff.  And it was El Rey who wrapped up the try bonus point at the end of the first quarter, smartly anticipating a wide pass, intercepting it and cantering away from half way for the score, converting himself for a 28-7 advantage that the Ospreys would not overcome.  Already, it was looking like game over.

Even after Skinner had been binned for a dangerous ruck clearout, the visitors could not take advantage.  Edinburgh managed the power play effectively, without conceding any points.  And after Rhys Davies was carded for making conact with Mr Darcy's head while hitting him late after the winger had cleared ball from his own 22, the Embramen showed the Ospreys how it's done.  Hamish Watson crossed after the Gunners' maul, which worked well all night, drove towards the line following an attacking lineout on the stroke of 40 minutes.  A more than handy advantage at the break, with the risk now being that the Embramen might take their foot off the gas too much in the second period.

The third quarter proved to be a little aimless, as both sides struggled to hit their stride after half time.  But the Ospreys did indeed claw one back on 48 minutes, Lake crossing for his second.  But Morgan Morris was carded shortly afterwards for a ruck offence, giving the Gunners a chance to put this match away.  

And Mr Darcy duly delivered. His first, on 59 minutes, was an absolute cracker and a classic Graham score.  Several times, it looked like a defender had nailed him, only for the 6,700 crowd to swoon as he exemplified one of the great Bill McLaren's famous sayings - 'he was as slippery as a baggie in a Border burn' - to cross in the right corner.  40-14 with short-handed Ospreys now looking at salvaging a try bonus point.

His second score, on 73 minutes, was the best of the night. The visitors conceded a penalty near their 10 metre line.  With everyone present expecting him to knock the penalty to touch on the left wing, The King instead tapped and passed to The Boff surging to the right.  It is such a joy to have a genuinely world class talent like the Argentine full back on the books at Edinburgh and he again showed his class with a superb dink over the blitzing defence for Mr Darcy to chase. He beat the covering Morgan for a stellar score in the corner.  Heads up rugby at its best.

The Ospreys did claw back another try on 77 minutes, Parry crossing to narrow the gap to 45-21. But the Gunners denied them the try bonus and it was fitting that The Boff ended the mnatch, booting the ball into touch at no-side.

Edinburgh finish their 2022/23 season with a trip to Belfast to face second placed Ulster, who are already guaranteed a home quarter final in the URC playoffs.  When one looks at tonight's performance, the quality of Mr Darcy's interventions, Edinburgh's dominance at the breakdown, the depth of talent in the squad - imagine being able to bring on Duhan as a late sub? - you name it, you really wonder why this squad will finish the URC among the basement dwellers.  Particularly when they gave such a good account of themselves in the Heineken.  Another reason why parting is such sweet sorrow.  We can look forward to this squad kicking on next term, based on the solid foundation that Mike Blair has built.

 

 

Baby Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo

Edinburgh: 19 (19) Cell C Sharks: 22 (14)

Six of the most irritating words in the English language.  And most of them aren't even words.  At no-side at the DAM Health last night, the Embra Ultras were in a state of extreme irritation as the visiting baby Sharks - shorn of most of their Springboks - hung on in the face of a late home onslaught to claim a valuable away scalp in the URC.  

The win allowed the Sharks to leapfrog Edinburgh, who now sit in 9th position in the table. Playoff rugby is by no means out of reach, but they really need to get on a winning run in the home straight.

And they second stringers from Durban deserved it, too.  The Embramen© had more chances.  But it was the baby Sharks who took the ones they had, marshalled well by Curwin Bosch at 10.  That they did so was down to their ability to keep the ball alive and stress the defence.  The visitors' offloading game was crucial in their scores, while the Gunners too often went to ground, giving the

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OH ME OF LITTLE FAITH

Edinburgh: 20 (10) Saracens: 14 (6)

The soundtrack in the car as we returned to the heartland of the Embra Tifosi following this evening's Champions Cup encounter at the DAM Health was The Magnificent Seven by Elmer Bernstein.The Embramen© certainly put in an heroic performance, even though it was largely the home side that were on the attack and high flying Saracens putting in the big shift in defence.  And in the battle of the magnificent sevens, it was the Gunners' Luke 'Bing' Crosbie who came out on top over the visitors' Ben Earl, despite the latter's well taken late try that was to deny Edinburgh a home tie in the round of 16.

I will admit that, at half time, I thought this was going to be another heroic defeat.  Edinburgh had had the lion's share of ball, field position and opportunities against a side that at one point was down to 13 following two - correct - yellow cards for head contact in the tackle.  They had played very well.  But they only had 10 points to show for

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