Entertaining as Richard Cockerill invariably is when holding court there can be times when his turn of phrase can be almost disturbingly colourful and yesterday was a case in point as he sought to outline the importance of Fijian No.8 Vili Mata to the project of turning Edinburgh into a top class side.
“I will sell which ever one of my children... kidneys, I’d say brain but it wouldn’t do much,” he joked. “We’ll do everything we can to keep our best players, that includes Vili or anybody else, because that’s how it should be. How realistic that is we’ll see but I’m up for the battle don’t worry.”
In more serious vein, he explained that there would be little point in doing what they have done in transforming a struggling franchise into a team that is poised to bring a Champions Cup quarter-final to Scotland for just the second time in history if he and his management team were not committed to continuous improvement, which requires the recruitment and retention of the right personnel.
“Vili will be here for a long time to come,” he insisted. “We are not going to be a selling club. I won’t be selling anybody ever out of our team that’s doing what Vili’s doing, or any other player. It’s as simple as that. We’ll be making sure we do everything we can to keep our best players at the club because we want to develop and get stronger.”
The question arose because it is the time of year when contract talks are underway and even when committed beyond the end of the season, as Mata is, those performing as he has done in the Champions Cup are likely to attract head-turning offers.
His value could soar further this weekend since man-for-man, Mata and his mates are not valued at anything like the level of the men they will meet in their pool decider when Vern Cotter’s Montpellier visit them on Friday evening, just as was the case last weekend when they completed a home-and-away double over three time champions Toulon. Yet, as Cockerill was quick to point out the French club has won away from home just once in the last 13 attempts in the Champions Cup and that twisted sense of humour was in evidence again as, after noting that it was in Glasgow last season that Montpellier claimed that solitary success, he took malicious pleasure in the prospect of helping Glasgow into the last eight, adding wryly: “There is a change... we can look after our little brothers from the other end of the motorway.”
There are parallels to be drawn with last season when Edinburgh came through their qualifying group in the second tier Challenge Cup in some style, earning a home quarter-final, only to be beaten on their own territory by Cardiff Blues, however, the coach believes they are readier to handle the pressure this time around.
“I think we’re a better team than last year... I think we’re a better team than when we played Montpellier in the first round,” said Cockerill.”Can we cope with the expectation? We went with optimism to Toulon, but did people really think we could go and win there? I’m not sure, but we believe in ourselves and the players did themselves proud at the weekend.
“We’re here. Do people expect us to win? I’m not sure, but we’re in a contest, aren’t we? We’ve got respect from the competition. We’re under pressure and I want to see how we react, because the only way for us to learn is to play these games.I am not sure we are meant to win, but Christ we will go out there, gumshields in, sleeves rolled up and we are going to get into the middle of it and see where we get to.”
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