Edinburgh centre Chris Dean says he expects Friday night’s defeat to Glasgow Warriors will be the sharp shock the team needed to make sure they are fully switched on and ready for the challenge they face against Ulster in Saturday’s PRO14 play-off semi-final clash at Murrayfield.
“I think, just, frustration,” he said, when asked for his reaction to the performance. “We certainly didn’t want to turn up and play like we did, we wanted to put in a strong performance moving into next week and gather that momentum. We didn’t turn up and weren’t clinical enough getting out of our own half, and in fairness to Glasgow they put a lot of pressure on us.
“Gathering momentum was going to be key going into the Ulster game, but it didn’t happen. Now that game is out the way, we have to fully focus on next week. Cockers [head coach Richard Cockerill] has said we are not going to review the game, we’re going to move on, and get set to come back next Saturday and hopefully push on into the final.
“We’ll take the positive out of it and use it as a kick up the backside. We’ll come back in on Monday ready to train ahead of a massive game for the club, and for the club, next Saturday.”
Edinburgh’s last home league defeat before Friday was against Ulster in April 2019, so they are in no doubt as to the size of the challenge they face.
“They are a really physical outfit, a really direct team,” said Dean. “They have [former Edinburgh assistant coach] Roddy Grant there and we know what he is all about – collision-focused and really aggressive – so that’s what we expect.
“But I think the work that we put in defensively, as shown in our stats across the whole season, shows that if we can get it right then we will be in a really good position. We just need to hold on to the ball and put them under pressure at the right times.
“We’ll see some guys come back in after being rested this week, so we’ll be ready to go. It will be full guns blazing, I’m sure.”
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