EDINBURGH Rugby must regard a top-six finish in this coming season’s PRO12 as an absolute minimum target, according to Alan Solomons. Such a statement might seem ambitious given the team has not finished higher than eighth in the last five seasons, but the head coach is convinced that he has the talent at his disposal to turn that intent into reality.
As he is about to embark on his third season in charge, the South African can point to some solid progress thus far, with last season’s run to the European Challenge Cup final an indication of how much the team has improved since he took over. Solomons unsurprisingly looks back on that run as a positive achievement for his players, and an inspiring one for Scottish rugby as a whole, but he is convinced that this time round such glimpses of promise cannot be deemed sufficient. Greater consistency is required, and if it comes, he will get the improvement in league position that he is demanding from his squad.
“It has been well documented that this was a club that needed rebuilding,” Solomons said yesterday at the squad’s training camp in St Andrews. “In my first year I had nothing to do with recruitment, which made things difficult, so we had to clear the ground. Twenty-three players departed at the end of that season, and last year we made some progress, but we need to push that on a bit now.
“I think the absolute minimum - and we were not far off it last year, because we got more wins than Leinster who finished fifth, but less bonus points - is making the top six. That is an absolute priority this year for us.
“We have a tightly knit group; some really good guys in the team. Yes, we don’t have the budgets of some of the other teams, but we have a tight together group and they are capable of achieving.”
They proved that capability in the Challenge Cup, above all in the narrow quarter-final win at London Irish and the resounding 45-16 home victory in the semi-final over the Dragons. Gloucester were just too strong in the final, winning 19-13, but given a fixture pile-up and a lengthy injury list Solomons was nonetheless delighted by his team’s getting that far.
“At the end of last season we ended up with a lot of back-to-back games, and we had only 28 players left with a lot of key guys missing,” he recalled. “We paid a bit of a price for that, but I think it was very positive for the club and for Scottish rugby that we made that final. The final itself was a bridge too far for us, but it helped generate a lot of confidence in the team.
“We’re in a tough pool this time around, because London Irish have spent a lot of money and will be stronger. Grenoble are tough in France, Agen too . . . .
“But coming in the top six in the PRO12 is absolutely critical for us. PRO12 is a priority for us this year.”
The early weeks of the season will present difficulties for Edinburgh, as for every PRO12 team, with so many of their key players away on Rugby World Cup duty at least for the duration of the pool stages of the competition. There may still be one or two more new signings to make, but even as things stand Solomons is confident that he has the depth of squad he will need to achieve his main aim.
“It [the World Cup] will certainly be a disruption at the start of the PRO12 and then it depends how much rest players need at the end of that. They have tried to make it as least disruptive as possible. There are four out of 22 games [that the World Cup could impact on] so I don’t think it will be massively disruptive.
“If teams go on in the World Cup after October 17, then the knock-on effect could go deeper. After October 17 we have 16 games back to back, so we will need to rotate players and everyone will get their chance.
“By and large the recruitment is done. I think that we have got a very good strength in depth in our forwards when everybody comes back from the World Cup. In the forwards we have the depth: in the backs the young boys will have to step up.”
The three most significant signings so far are Tongan international Will Helu and Ulster back Michael Allen - both of whom are now with the club - and Highlanders back-row forward Nasi Manu, who should be part of the set-up soon. “Will is a very experienced player having played for Tonga and Wasps, and I think he will add a bit of X factor which we desperately need and will continue to look for,” Solomons added. “That is a big bonus for us.
“You will know [Manu] was co-captain of the Highlanders team that won Super Rugby. We are hoping that really shortly he will be joining us.
“Michael Allen - you know him well from Ulster. He was always an outside centre, but he ended up playing quite a lot on the wing and he will be able to contest both those positions here.”
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