Edinburgh attack coach Duncan Hodge is usually as mild mannered a character as you are likely to encounter in the world of professional rugby.
But there was an outward flash of the inner steel which drove him to 26 caps for Scotland between 1997 and 2002 when it was suggested to him that his team are master proponents of forward-orientated, unadventurous, 10-man rugby.
“That is one of those things that we seem to get labelled with, and this year has been tough, but I think I’m right in saying we scored the most tries in our league last year, so our attack wasn’t lacking then,” he bit back. “It has been difficult, missing certain players, but I think at the minute we kick the ball the least in our league.
“It is something we always strive to get better at, and we’ve been training on our new fantastic playing surface, so naturally it will lend itself to attacking rugby,” he added.
Edinburgh have managed just four wins from 12 matches in the PRO14 this season, with last weekend’s loss to Scarlets leaving their hopes of Champions Cup qualification for next year in tatters.
But all is not lost because they are still involved in this Champions Cup campaign, which resumes at the last 16 stage in early April, while Hodge says recent activity in recruiting and retaining players for next season has given the club a big boost.
“We’ve got some good guys coming in and managed to hold onto some important players, so that’s positive,” he said. “It is always tough juggling a budget so we’ll see where we’re at come the end of the season, but hopefully it is a fairly stable squad we can get together and have a good training block with to crack on for the rest of this season and into next season.”
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