WHICH matters more, Europe or the league?
It’s one of those bigger questions that is not confined to rugby but when you have got used to the big occasion, as Hamish Watson, the Scotland and Edinburgh flanker has, there is no doubt: it is Europe that stirs the emotions.
After performing in front of more than 36,000 at BT Murrayfield last week, Watson has a taste for more and says that is what is driving the Edinburgh players to surge through the final games of the season and make sure they get back into the big time next season.
“After such a great performance in the Champions Cup this year and the way the league went last year, if we were to go back into the Challenge Cup, it would be really disappointing,” he said. “Every player wants to be in that main European tournament. The competition is really tough though, Scarlets are still in it,
[Benetton] Treviso drew at Leinster, Ulster are pushing for it. There are only so many spots and everyone wants to be in that top European place. It will mean a lot to the players to get back into it.
“The play off spots are important but it is more about the Champions Cup and getting back into Europe. If we get there, then we will start to worry about the play-offs.”
The two go together. After producing their remarkable win at Parc y Scarlets in Wales, their first outside Scotland this season against a side who have lost only once at home in the competition since September, they control their own fate – but face huge challenges.
That starts this week when Ulster, who stay second in the conference despite losing to Glasgow Warriors, visit BT Murrayfield. Just three points cover the top three teams with two European places still available. The Scarlets an easy run-in and are by no means out of things.
To go into the Glasgow derby still in pole position for a European place, Edinburgh must beat Ulster.
“It is a huge game, pretty much a semi-final for those play-off spots,” Watson said. “They will need a win after their game against Glasgow and so do we, so it is a massive game.
“We still have a great home record and go into every home game expecting to win. We put that pressure on ourselves expecting to win.”
If they are to stand a chance against Ulster, however, they are going to have to find the quality of rugby they brought to the second half and make sure there is none of the passive style they brought to the first.
The Scarlets had the confidence to throw the ball about, bringing both wings into the game at every opportunity so that Edinburgh hardly got their hands on the ball and coughed it up all to easily when they did.
The result was tries from scrum half Gareth Davies and Jonathan Davies plus a conversion from Leigh Halfpenny that put the home side 12 points up at the break and feeling they had squandered a couple more opportunities.
There was a bit of anger, a bit of shouting and a bit of laying down the law in the Edinburgh changing room at the break and they came out looking a totally different outfit.
“It was not too fiery and it was to be expected,” Watson reported. “We were slow out of the blocks and played badly in that first half so there were a few stern words – probably needed to be honest because we did not really get off the bus in that first half. It was harsh but fair.
“The first half was pretty poor but we reacted well and put it right in the second half. We controlled the game better, we did not get much ball in the first half and when we did, looked pretty frantic. The second half, we controlled things a lot better.”
They got on the scoreboard soon after the break with Jaco van der Walt landing a penalty but then nine remarkable mintiest around the hour mark turned the scoreboard on its head as Watson laid on a try for Matt Scott and then van der Walt snatched an interception and ran in from his own half.
The fly half converted both tries and added a second penalty to bring his personal contribution to 15 points as Edinburgh controlled the final stages.
“Once we do get in front with 20 minutes to go we are very hard to beat. All the players know that. When Jaco’s try went in we played our game and made it hard for them to get back into it,” Watson said.
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