FRIDAY was a big night for Edinburgh, back on home turf for the first time since mid-October, playing one of the big Irish provinces, and with their international contingent back after Autumn Test Series duty then being rested for last weekend’s dispiriting loss away to Benetton.
There was an emotional tribute to the late great Doddie Weir before kick-off, and the capital outfit initially did a great job of paying the best possible tribute to the big man with the way they charged into a 12-0 lead inside the first quarter-of-an-hour – but, not for the first time this season, they could not sustain it.
By the end of the match, the homes side had been reduced to a rabble who looked at times like they had only been introduced to each other during the warm-up.
All credit to Munster for upping the intensity during the third quarter to push their way into an unassailable lead, but as home head coach Mike Blair acknowledged after the 38-17 defeat: “We gave them everything they wanted. We were ponderous in attack, and they won the physicality battle.”
When Munster stand-off Joey Carbery went over for his team’s fifth and final try in the final minute it prompted a mass exodus from the DAM Health Stadium stands by some very hacked off patrons.
Some family and friends hung on, and it was unedifying to see a number of players merrily posing for photographs after their usual on-field huddle. It is hard to imagine their counterparts from Munster – or any other Irish province – appearing so flippant if they had been involved in such a calamitous implosion.
Rugby is not a matter of life or death, and professional sportspeople of course need to be able to switch off, but the least we could hope for is some sign that what had transpired had ruined the players’ night.
There seems to be a culture in Scottish rugby of shrugging shoulders when things go wrong, and then suggesting that things will be better next time because they are all fine fellows who get on really well with each other. Failure is accepted a little bit too easily.
“I think we let ourselves down either side of half time,” acknowledged scrum-half Ben Vellacott. “They had a really soft try before half time, and then another straight after – and they’re probably the most important minutes of the game, either side of the break.
“It was just errors on our part. We were sloppy with the ball, and against a good Munster team it’s very much like Test rugby: if you don’t look after the ball, and you don’t play in the right areas of the game, you’re going to get punished.”
Next up is Saracens away in the European Champions Cup next Sunday, and another lacklustre performance against the Gallagher Premiership table-toppers – who have won nine out of nine league games played this season – will be punished mercilessly.
“Well, we need to look after the ball, for one,” mused Vellacott, when asked what needs to change ahead of that trip to the StoneX Stadium in Barnet. “And then we just need to be physically there. They’re going to be exactly the same as the Munster team – they’re going to be very physically dominant – so we just need to front up.
“I’ve played there quite a few times, we went down last year in the Challenge Cup and got a win, but they’re a different team this year. They’re unbeaten in the Premiership this season, so it’s going to be a massive challenge. But we’re looking forward to playing Champions Cup rugby.
“We’re trying to build. The last couple of results haven’t gone our way. We just need to put in a good performance.”
Meanwhile, Blair said the loss of winger Darcy Graham to a knee injury on 27 minutes and inside-centre Chris Dean to a head injury on 45 minutes cannot be used an excuse for Edinburgh’s capitulation.
“James Lang is an excellent 12 as well, and we moved Wes Goosen on to the wing and put Jaco van der Walt at full-back, so it was fine,” he said. “I just think a few little things didn’t go our way – in one of our plays I think the ball just hit Mark Bennett’s inside shoulder, where if it had gone out the back we were on.
“This isn’t excuse-making, we certainly weren’t good enough, and the detail of what we’re doing has to be better. Because if it isn’t, with the quality in this league, if you’re not on it, things like that happen.
“Saracens are nine from nine, they’ve got lots of quality internationals and top-level club players, so we’ve got to be on it.”
