He is arguably Scotland’s player of the year and Stuart McInally added to his burgeoning reputation on Saturday by leading Edinburgh to a victory that could prove telling in their bid to re-define the local rugby landscape.
The hooker’s superb all-round contribution pretty much ended with a barn-storming run which turned defence into attack and was ultimately rewarded with their last score, a penalty from Dunc Weir and he felt that capacity to turn opportunities into points was, in itself, telling in terms of the overall project of revitalising the club.
“We worked hard for that. It was a hugely physical game (and) generally when we held the ball in their 22 we came away with points. Which is something we’ve not done in the past few years,” he observed.
One of the few members of the squad who was involved in Edinburgh’s last truly memorable campaign, albeit he was playing in a different position when he played a major role as a back-row forward in helping them reach the Heineken Cup semi-final six years ago, McInally made his debut for his club eight years ago, so has even been around long enough to remember when Edinburgh were seen as the superior Scottish team, but he believes it is for others to judge whether they have closed the gap this time, simply drawing satisfaction from the strides they have made this season.
“Who knows? That’s for you to decide,” he said, when asked whether he belied this 1872 Challenge Cup win meant they could claim to be best in Scotland.
“We feel that we’ve been getting better and better and of course we want to push on. We’re just excited to get to Thomond Park next week.”
As to whether they can travel to Munster and beat the Irish province on their own patch in the quarter-final, he echoed his coach Richard Cockerill in recognising that there will be no expectations of them as they take on a team with a fine pedigree in pressure matches, but said the opportunity was to be relished.
“It’s an amazing place to play, I’ve been a few times and it’s tough. We are under no illusions that it’s going to be a really hard match for us but we’re hugely excited. It will be the biggest game this club’s had for a long time so we’ll give it our all,” said McInally.
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