Edinburgh carry the burden of expectation into Europe

Senior Sports Writer

Wednesday 10 October 2012

With Edinburgh continuing to struggle to match last season's Heineken Cup form in the RaboDirect Pro12 League, Greig Laidlaw, the captain, has admitted that being forced to qualify for Europe could benefit them.

Getting good quality set-piece ball will be vital in Edinburgh's opening Heineken Cup tie against Saracens, according to captain Greig Laidlaw. Picture: SNS

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Kevin Ferrie

At the start of this season players and coaches at the club missed no opportunity to state their determination to overcome the inconsistency which led to them finishing second bottom of the Pro12 while making a major breakthrough in becoming the first Scottish team to contest a Heineken Cup semi-final.

Yet, with the contrast in their domestic and European form being cited by English and French administrators as a prime example of a failing in the Pro12 since there is no pressure on its teams to qualify for the Heineken Cup, Laidlaw was man enough to accept their reasoning."I can see where the English teams and the French teams are coming from, if I'm being honest," he said. "They play in tough leagues that allow them to qualify. At Edinburgh Rugby it's not our decision, so as players it doesn't really affect us too much, but obviously we love playing in the Heineken Cup and we brought something to the competition last year. "We have to do that again this year and we have to show that if we're getting an automatic pick we've got to be worthy of being there. We also need to make sure our Rabo form is up there so that if it does change in the future, then Edinburgh Rugby are still going to be playing in the Heineken Cup."What could be seen as most telling, though, was his acknowledgement of the potential impact on his team if that happens."I don't think it would be a bad thing in the long run," Laidlaw reckoned. "Obviously it's good to know you're in, but in terms of pushing players on and developing squads that are capable of winning leagues, then it certainly wouldn't be a bad thing to have the carrot in front of you. "I can't tell you for sure, but I'm pretty sure that if the boys would have tried a bit harder, then a few of the results might have turned the other way."He says so under similar circumstances as time around. After winning two of their first three matches this season, they performed impressively in defeat at Heineken Cup champions Leinster before suffering successive embarrassments at the hands of the worst of the Welsh sides Newport Gwent Dragons then, last week, at home against Italian side Treviso. Laidlaw's analysis of their most recent effort was scathing towards all concerned but while he knows that any repeat will play into the hands of English side Saracens, their visitors in Saturday's opening round of the Heineken Cup, the more encouraging aspect is that he sees the signs that they are ready to lift themselves again."If we turn up and play like we did against Treviso, there will only be one outcome," he stated."Last week was a terrible performance. Our forwards never functioned and neither did the backs, but to rub salt into the wound the referee was garbage. So there were a few harsh words at the start of the week, but I've been happy with the way we've trained the last few days and everybody's now looking forward."It's not where we want to be and I was a little bit worried with the way we played. I've had a chance to look back and do some analysis and just the lack of first-phase ball cost us, but if we get our first-phase ball and get on the front foot then that, for me, is where Edinburgh Rugby are a dangerous team."The big focus for us this week is the set-piece. It's massive for us. We need to get good quality ball and we look back to the Leinster game three weeks ago and we ran them pretty close when we were down to 13 men. So we take great heart from that and we're definitely not a bad team overnight, but we've definitely had bad days the last two weeks and we need to put that right as a group of players."In attempting to do so, they will not, however, have one of the major advantages that helped them last season, the surprise factor that was created by the way they came off poor Pro12 performances to shock some of Europe's highest-rated sides.Laidlaw is again prepared to accept that, but is much happier that he and his men carry an extra burden this time around. "There's an expectation," he agreed."The surprise won't be there this year, so that's now built expectation within the squad and everybody that played last year really enjoyed it, nobody moreso than me. We want to get back there and everybody understands that if we want to get back there we need to do the things we talk about in training."I take confidence from what happened. It's great when teams are coming up here and you know that they need to play their best brand of rugby to beat you. We never did that against Treviso last week and it's imperative we do it this week, so I take confidence from thinking that Saracens will know they need to play one of their best games to turn us over at home."

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Edinburgh carry the burden of expectation into Europe

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