After a tough start to the season in which they have threatened to generate an upset without quite being able to deliver, Edinburgh must show they have a real cutting edge over the next fortnight according to one of their main finishers, Dougie Fife.
Trips to visit three teams that have won 10 of the 15 Celtic League/Pro12 and Pro14 titles among them were always going to represent a tough challenge in the first month of competition and a haul of just six points from a schedule which also included a solitary home match against 2016 Pro12 champions Connacht, has left Edinburgh bottom of Conference B.
However, they have been dominating long periods of matches, including against a near full strength Leinster side at the weekend and have done enough to be confident that they must now take full advantage of having home advantage over the next two weekends against Benetton Treviso and the Cheetahs.
“As a backline we came away pretty frustrated,” Fife said of that most recent experience against last season’s Champions Cup and Pro14 double winners. “We created opportunities against one of the form teams in Europe and didn’t take them, but the good thing is that we are making chances. Everything is there… we have the squad and the ability and it is just about sorting little things. We look at every game… every home game as a chance to win. It is a good chance against Benetton to put in a good performance.We have had quite a harsh start and a tough run. We have played well and we are pretty gutted not to have won two of those away games, or certainly one.”
Any possibility of slipping into the trap of thinking it will be easier this week should, however, be tempered by looking back a year to Treviso’s last visit.Then, after a highly encouraging start to new coach Richard Cockerill’s reign as they followed a victory at Cardiff Blues, who would go on to win last season’s European Challenge Cup, with a comfortable home win against the Dragons, they suffered a shock home defeat to the Italians.
“I wasn’t involved, but it is definitely one that stings with the boys,” Fife acknowledged.“We have looked back to it a bit in the past though we have not looked at it this season.”
In the end it did not prove as costly as it might, but it served to demonstrate the need to battle as hard in early season as during the run-in.
“They were points that we always thought we maybe could have had come the final tally of points before the play-offs,” Fife noted. “We had a pretty big meeting after that game and I think it spurred us on towards the end of the season. It probably was a turning point to be honest. We had played good rugby up until then, then that was a huge step back. Cockers sets huge standards and made it clear that wasn’t good enough, but Benetton showed how much they have improved and grown over the years.”
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