A BIT of the bounce is back. It may have been a foul night with a cold wind and heavy rain, but Edinburgh rediscovered their pack mojo in time to get their European Challenge Cup campaign off to a winning start against Grenoble and keep alive hopes of repeating, or even beating, last season's campaign where they were losing finalists.
More to the point, the 28-10 win also gave hope to the fans and bore out claims from the coaching staff that after losing David Denton in mid season, they have the back-row strength in depth to cope. Cornell du Preez slotted into Denton's usual role at No.8 and if the team lost something in sheer brawn, they gained in other ways as the South African claimed two tries and the man of the match award.
For all that, losing Denton mid-season came as a huge shock to the playing group, mainly because of the speed with which it happened. There were no whisperings of a move when they last played, but by Tuesday he was telling a club meeting that he was off to Bath having been made an offer he did not think he could refuse.
"It was such a quick decision for him," said Dougie Fife, one of those in the squad who knows Denton best after coming up through the age grades alongside him. "He called me up on Monday night and I though he was joking, just messing about. He insisted 'no I am moving on' and then the following morning told the boys and it was pretty emotional.
"We are good friends on and off the pitch and he will be missed but maybe it is a good idea for him to move on at this stage in his career and we do have cover. Nasi Manu has been brilliant for us and John Hardie had a great World Cup and I am sure he will be a great addition to the squad."
The next stage in Edinburgh's Challenge Cup venture is to head for southwest France on Friday, when they are due to travel to Agen, assuming that sporting fixtures are back on after Friday's tragedy in Paris. Though Agen are probably more interested in their battle against relegation in the Top14 than the Challenge Cup, Fife says Edinburgh are taking nothing for granted.
"It is going to be tough," he said. "It is hard to know with French teams in the Challenge Cup, Grenoble came over and gave it a good shot and now we have a tough game away in Agen. So, as we did last week, we have to take each one as it comes and see if we can go as far as we did last season, maybe even that extra step further."
It was one of those nights when everyone wants to be in the forwards where they could huddle together and keep warm, and it was no real surprise that they scored all the tries with du Preez going over twice from the back of driven lineouts and a penalty try when Grenoble brought down a scrum motoring towards their line.
"The weather was pretty poor from the start of the day so we knew what to expect," said Fife, who was making his first start at full-back rather than his more usual role on the wing. "The pitch was going to be wet even if it calmed down, there was not much we could do. We had to expect some high balls coming in and I think we dealt with them well, that was a goal of the back three to win the aerial battle."
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