Busy Bees at the Hive - Edinburgh 23/24

[septic 9]

Bristol Live suggesting Mata will be on 400k at Bristol. Fair play to him for securing that at 32!

I'd be surprised but you never know! that is not far short of what Edin had been paying him on his last contract. Highest paid player in Scotland I'm told, courtesy Cockerill's kids' kidneys

[BaldiePete]

5-3 to Edinburgh at half time. It’s all been a bit frantic but Edinburgh deserve the lead. On the Scotland matchups, Healy is ahead of Hastings and Bennett ahead of Harris.

[BaldiePete]

Well, bollocks to that. Threw it away 20-21. Gloucester get a wonder try from LRZ and a late try from Mercer with the conversion going in off the post. Poor kicking from the tee by Healy cost us, with two missed conversions (admittedly difficult ones from wide out) and a missed penalty from centre field which was a real sitter. There’s a slackness about Edinburgh’s play which makes this sort of close defeat more likely. Very frustrating.

[switchskier]

Didn't see the game, and I know that LRZ is lightning, but damn Lang looked slow when getting burnt for that final try.

Despite it all quite pleased with the common sense showed for the Everitt extension. Identify your man, get him in, ensure that it's not a disastrous relationship with different country and culture and then give him a bit of security within which to work. Hope we now see some evolution over the remainder of the season.

[septic 9]

Lang isn't a top end pace man, thats for sure, but any one player would get burned by Zammit like that. The Edinburgh problem was no defensive structure.

[BaldiePete]

Diddy Cup against Scarlets on Friday.

Darcy listed as injured which is definitely a concern for the 6N. Two weeks to go so hopefully he’ll be OK. Ritchie is only on the bench which won’t help in his quest to keep his Scotland place, especially since next week is a URC rest week so this is the last Edinburgh game before the start of the 6N. We also seem to be running out of wingers, Chris Dean is on the right wing

E Boffelli; C Dean, M Currie, J Lang, D van der Merwe; B Healy, B Vellacott; P Schoeman, D Cherry, W Nel, S Skinner, G Gilchrist, L Crosbie, H Watson, V Mata.
Substitutes: E Ashman, B Venter, A Williams, G Young, J Ritchie, T Dodd, A Price, C Scott.

Unavailable: Mark Bennett (knee), Connor Boyle (neck), Wes Goosen (quad), Darcy Graham, (quad), Robin Hislop (knee), Jake Henry (knee), Jamie Hodgson (ankle), Ben Muncaster (foot), Harry Paterson (shoulder), Javan Sebastian (knee), Scott Steele (hip), Nathan Sweeney (hamstring).

[BaldiePete]

Nice to get a decent win away from home (even if the Scarlets were pretty pish). All the work was done in the first half, the second was very scrappy, but it was a good defensive effort, the late try when we were down to 14 notwithstanding. Gilchrist got a red for two yellows cards (both for contact with the head) which will probably mean a ban, so he’s unlikely to be available for the first couple of 6N matches. That could be a blessing in disguise if it encourages Townsend to pick Cummings. Ritchie did nothing that would suggest he should be in the starting team against Wales but Crosbie and Watson both played well.

I started writing the above just before the farcical ending with Duhan getting a yellow and a penalty try given for a deliberate knock on which probably didn’t go forward. Luckily it didn’t affect the result.

[sharvey44]

Ashman really needs to sort his throwing. In the last few games he's barely hit his man.

Scarlets were very bad, their discipline was terrible and I was surprised that they didn't get a yellow for repeat infringements. For someone who has been a referee for that long Sara Cox didn't seem to have a very good game either.

Gilchrist is dumb and has definitely taken Big Jims Penalty Machine armband.

Thought Lang/Currie looked good. King Boff had a great game.

[Mikey Brown]

Yeah just seen the Duhan yellow. Bizarre.

Gilchrist lucky that wasn't a straight red. He doesn't seem to learn.

[BaldiePete]

Edinburgh getting a significant number of internationals back for the match on Friday away to Zebre. Nel, Sebastian, Young, Ritchie, Price, Healy and Paterson will all be available for selection. It looks like Edinburgh should be able to put out a pretty decent team for this one.

According to The Offside Line, Darcy Graham is back in full training but won’t be ready for this game but he should be available for Scotland the following week.

[Big D]

If Graham doesn't play v Zebre then Rowe should get the nod for the Culcutta Cup IMO.

[Big D]

Edinburgh Will have a very strong team available. Must take advantage.

[BaldiePete]

If Graham doesn't play v Zebre then Rowe should get the nod IMO.

Rowe is a Glasgow player.

[Big D]

If Graham doesn't play v Zebre then Rowe should get the nod IMO.

Rowe is a Glasgow player.

Talking about the national team. Forgot what thread we were on.

[BaldiePete]

A very tidy team to be putting it mid 6N, although 2nd row depth is shown to be lacking with two back row players on the bench but no lock. Still, there’s no excuse not to get a BP win.

Edinburgh (v Zebre Parma at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Friday 7.35pm): E Boffelli; H Paterson, M Currie, J Lang, C Dean; B Healy, A Price; B Venter, D Cherry, W Nel, M Sykes, G Young, J Ritchie (captain), H Watson, V Mata. Replacements: P Harrison, L de Bruin, J Sebastian, T Dodd, C Boyle, B Vellacott, M Bennett, N Sweeney.

Unavailable.
Luke Crosbie (shoulder), Wes Goosen (quad), Darcy Graham (quad), Hodgson (shin), Robin Hislop (knee), Ben Muncaster (foot) and Scott Steele (hip).

[Big D]

As strong a side as they could have wished for really during the 6N.

[switchskier]

A very tidy team to be putting it mid 6N, although 2nd row depth is shown to be lacking with two back row players on the bench but no,lock. Still, there’s no excuse not to get a BP win.

Edinburgh (v Zebre Parma at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Friday 7.35pm): E Boffelli; H Paterson, M Currie, J Lang, C Dean; B Healy, A Price; B Venter, D Cherry, W Nel, M Sykes, G Young, J Ritchie (captain), H Watson, V Mata. Replacements: P Harrison, L de Bruin, J Sebastian, T Dodd, C Boyle, B Vellacott, M Bennett, N Sweeney.

Unavailable.
Luke Crosbie (shoulder), Wes Goosen (quad), Darcy Graham (quad), Hodgson (shin), Robin Hislop (knee), Ben Muncaster (foot) and Scott Steele (hip).

Chris Dean on the wing? Love him as a player but he barely has the gas to play in the centres. Why not give a youngster a shot? McCann isn't even that young at 26. Why's he in the squad if he's not going to play Zebre, mid-6N, when we have injuries on the wing?

[BaldiePete]

Well this is embarrassing

[switchskier]

Well this is embarrassing

Appalling. Noone coming out with any credit so far.

[BaldiePete]

24-19 win for Edinburgh. 3 tries so no BP (again). An absolutely horrible, inept performance against a very poor Zebre team. Two close in tries from the forwards and a penalty try for collapsing a maul. The attack offered nothing at all. Our back play has completely gone to shit, there is just no spark at all. I’m not sure we even had one line break.

[septic 9]

24-19 win for Edinburgh. 3 tries so no BP (again). An absolutely horrible, inept performance against a very poor Zebre team. Two close in tries from the forwards and a penalty try for collapsing a maul. The attack offered nothing at all. Our back play has completely gone to shit, there is just no spark at all. I’m not sure we even had one line break.

too kind.
Even the pen try was IMHO dubious, maul looked to have stalled before it was brought down.

[Cameo]

A very tidy team to be putting it mid 6N, although 2nd row depth is shown to be lacking with two back row players on the bench but no,lock. Still, there’s no excuse not to get a BP win.

Edinburgh (v Zebre Parma at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Friday 7.35pm): E Boffelli; H Paterson, M Currie, J Lang, C Dean; B Healy, A Price; B Venter, D Cherry, W Nel, M Sykes, G Young, J Ritchie (captain), H Watson, V Mata. Replacements: P Harrison, L de Bruin, J Sebastian, T Dodd, C Boyle, B Vellacott, M Bennett, N Sweeney.

Unavailable.
Luke Crosbie (shoulder), Wes Goosen (quad), Darcy Graham (quad), Hodgson (shin), Robin Hislop (knee), Ben Muncaster (foot) and Scott Steele (hip).

Chris Dean on the wing? Love him as a player but he barely has the gas to play in the centres. Why not give a youngster a shot? McCann isn't even that young at 26. Why's he in the squad if he's not going to play Zebre, mid-6N, when we have injuries on the wing?

Couldn't agree more. I can understand protecting youngsters sometimes, but this really is a very conservative approach. Training day in day out must be depressing if you are not going to get a shot in these circumstances.

Need to get some proper attack structure before properly judging, but I remain sceptical about Healy. Useful asset, but some jumped to crown him as something special (I think largely because they hated Kinghorn at 10).

[BaldiePete]

Healy played well in his first few matches for Edinburgh but his form has dropped off a cliff since then.

[Cameo]

Everyone loves a kicking 10 until they realise what it actually means.

I appreciate that is harsh on him and other tens. It is possible to be a good kicker and good at other things, but I think for a few games everyone is impressed when someone stands deep and kicks for field position but the hard thing is combining that with being able to get flatter and get the backline moving when the situation requires. Coaching and attack structure obviously have a lot to do with it too.

[BaldiePete]

Big home game against the Ospreys who are playing well and seem to have come on to a good season. Definitely the best of the Welsh teams. It’s great news to see Goosen on the bench, he was on his best form for Edinburgh before his injury. Thankfully that should soon mean the end of playing Dean as a winger. Also, scrum-halves have been swapped round with Vellacott starting and Price on the bench. I’d like to see him bring more urgency than Price has had recently. Ritchie being held for international selection is perhaps ominous for the Italy match, I’d really like to see Christie get a start.


Edinburgh (v Ospreys at Hive Stadium, Friday 7.35pm): E Boffelli; H Paterson, M Bennett, M Currie, C Dean; B Healy, B Vellacott ©; B Venter, D Cherry, W Nel, S Skinner, G Young, T Dodd, H Watson, V Mata. Replacements: P Harrison, L de Bruin, J Sebastian, M Sykes, B Muncaster, A Price, J Lang, W Goosen.

Unavailable through injury: Luke Crosbie (shoulder), Darcy Graham (groin), Robin Hislop (knee), Mikey Jones (hamstring), Scott Steele (hip).

Rest for international selection: Ewan Ashman, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie, Pierre Schoeman, Duhan van der Merwe.