According to Edinburgh coach Sean Everitt, the two Scottish teams’ outstanding start in the United Rugby Championship has been fueled by the national team’s disappointment in the Rugby World Cup.
Graham Cheese
Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh, who are ranked second and fifth in the table, respectively, have each won four of their first five United Rugby Championship games. Although there is still a long way to go and both teams will need to fly to South Africa in the spring, the two Scottish teams are currently comfortably positioned for the play-offs.
Taking over from Mike Blair in the summer, Everitt expressed his hope that nothing would change. “I have stated previously that there is no question that the players representing the two organizations would have been even more motivated by the World Cup’s setback. It frequently occurs that players from a team that performs well at the World Cup return quite complacent.
“After failing to qualify for the World Cup, these guys have returned home and really want to feel like they belong to a family and experience some success.” Moreover, they’re performing admirably. Every single foreign player who has returned has shown to be quite valuable. Which is why it’s so wonderful that they
After Scotland lost to South Africa and Ireland in the group stage, they were eliminated from the World Cup. Edinburgh and Glasgow each contributed 14 players to Gregor Townsend’s original team. The Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie was the most recent to rejoin Edinburgh after the team’s Friday victory over the Bulls. The great bulk of them have already been reintegrated into their teams.
Though Everitt refuted claims that the club’s strong start had exceeded his expectations, he still believes the team is becoming better every week. With our group and the planning they had done before I arrived, not really, he replied. “There were a few issues that needed to be resolved, and as you can probably see, one of them was game management. The guys are greatly improving upon their previous approach to game management.
“And I think it shows that they want to learn and they want to get better – they’ve certainly shown that although the results have been tight at the end. Hopefully that will help us later on in the competition when you get to knockout stages – if we make it there.”
South African coaches are now in charge of both Scottish teams, and Everitt stated that he and Glasgow Warriors colleague Franco Smith “go back a long way.” Smith’s efforts at Scotstoun have pleased him. Everitt continued, “Since I’ve been here, we have spoken a few times.” “You can see that he made a significant impact when he arrived, and he’s doing well at Glasgow.” He is a highly regarded coach who has performed exceptionally well. He was once associated with the Springboks as a consultant and was a strong contender for the coaching job there.
When Glasgow and Edinburgh play each other in the holiday 1872 Cup double header on December 22 and 30, the two teams will square off.
