Champions Cup: Edinburgh's rise to prominence under Richard Cockerill
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Jamie Ritchie is one of the players to have excelled under Richard Cockerill
You don't have to think too hard in order to remember what it was like for Edinburgh in the bad old days - the soulless atmospheres, the powder-puff performances, the sense of dreariness and hopelessness that hung over Murrayfield and Myreside like the dirtiest of clouds.
Now, in the wake of one of their greatest achievements in earning a home quarter-final in the Champions Cup, it might seem odd to look back, but it's only by looking back at what they were do we get a full appreciation of what they've become.
The job is far from complete, but the transformation of Edinburgh under Richard Cockerill, not just in the way the team plays but in the way it thinks, has been of epic proportions.
Remember this: in 2016-17, the season before Cockerill came to Scotland, Edinburgh won six games out of 22 in the old Pro12 and finished ninth (following on from finishing ninth, eighth, eighth, 10th and 11th in the five seasons before that). They were 27 points behind Glasgow, 38 points outside of the play-off positions and 55 points behind Munster, who topped the table.
Duncan Hodge, now a valued member of Cockerill's staff, was interim head coach for much of it. "Duncan is a really good coach," said Cockerill at the end of that bruising campaign. "But every time I saw him his eyes were a bit further back in his head and he was balder and he looked like he was hating life, which he probably was at the time."
Cockerill inherited a losing squad, then appointed a new captain, Magnus Bradbury, who had to be stripped of the honour after, allegedly, falling over drunk on a night out and hurting himself. He then lost another one of his key forwards, John Hardie, who had to be suspended for alleged cocaine use.
The question at the time wasn't so much was Cockerill ready for Edinburgh, but were Edinburgh ready for Cockerill. This, in eight games, is the evolution of his team...
Edinburgh 17-20 Benetton
15 September, 2017
When Cockerill arrived at Edinburgh, he said that the club needed a "firm hand" and the players "needed to hear some home truths."
Lock Grant Gilchrist tells a story of those early weeks in pre-season in the summer of 2017. "Cockers came up to me and said that he'd heard a lot of really good things about me. Then he said he'd watched me a lot the previous season and he didn't know what the fuss was about."
Cockerill knew his player's temperament. Gilchrist used that criticism as motivation and went on to play the best rugby of his life, but it took a while for his message to hit home everywhere. When cataloguing Edinburgh's road from Pro12 also-rans to European contenders, his third game in charge stands out. It was at Myreside and Benetton were the visitors. Edinburgh went into an early 14-0 lead against the Italians - and then they imploded, losing 20-17.
"That will haunt me forever," said Cockerill, later. "Probably one of the worst experiences of my coaching career. Just horrific. The whole world seemed to be saying, 'told you! Edinburgh - bound to let you down'. If I was a supporter I'm not sure I would have gone back after that. We were rubbish. I didn't sleep well for two or three days."
Edinburgh 18-17 Glasgow Warriors
23 December, 2017
Come the turn of the year, Edinburgh were beginning to show a bit more steel. One of the biggest tests would come in the first derby of the season. Cockerill built it up. He was a human loud-hailer. He said he thought he was getting places with his new team but that this would be their biggest examination. "We might lose by 50 points and get shunted back to square one," he said. "Then again, we might win."
Almost 24,000 people turned up to see it. Glasgow had won 10 out of 10 in the Pro14 to that point and scored an early try. Then Edinburgh had Simon Berghan sent off. Only six minutes had been played. After an hour, Glasgow led by 11 points and, though they were unimpressive, you'd have still placed your last pound on them winning.
Edinburgh cranked it up in the closing minutes, their defence was outstanding, their attack based on the pure, unadulterated power of their forwards. Incredibly, after playing with a one-man disadvantage for 74 minutes, they won the game.
This was not normal. Edinburgh's reputation was that of a side that lost games they should have won rather than winning games they should have lost. Something was changing and it was being led by a pack of forwards that, on their day, were becoming as intense as the man coaching them. Hooker Stuart McInally was beginning to look world class.
Edinburgh 6-20 Cardiff Blues
31 March, 2018
Edinburgh went into the quarter-final of the European Challenge Cup in rude health. With home advantage against a Cardiff side they'd already beaten away from home in the Pro14, they were favourites to progress, but couldn't deliver. It was a kick in the guts.
When faced with a game they were expected to win, Edinburgh struggled to deal with the pressure. "Some individuals didn't cope," said Cockerill. "We've got to keep developing. No-one said it was a short-term fix. We were jittery. We've had a steep learning curve."
In the aftermath of Friday's victory over Montpellier, Cockerill mentioned the loss to Cardiff as an illustration of their improved resilience under pressure.
Edinburgh 24-19 Glasgow Warriors
28 April, 2018
The conclusion of the three-leg 1872 Cup was won, with aplomb, by Cockerill's team. It was their 15th win from 21 games in the Pro14 compared to six the previous season.
One of Cockerill's recruits, the wing Duhan van der Merwe, scored two tries. Bill Mata, always richly talented but not always hugely influential, was turning in his brilliance more consistently. Young Jamie Ritchie was coming on a ton alongside him in the back-row.
Cockerill had added new players here and there but mostly he had improved the ones he already had. Blair Kinghorn was one of them. Kinghorn had the ability but Cockerill went to work on his mentality and the full-back prospered.
After the disappointment of European elimination, Cockerill was thrilled at the way his team bounced back. Next stop: Limerick for the knockouts of the Pro14.
Munster 20-16 Edinburgh
5 May, 2018
This was another major learning day. The game was there for the taking, but the visitors never looked like they truly believed that they were good enough to go to Thomond Park and win. They just didn't seem ready for it, psychologically.
Munster were average, but they got themselves into a 17-6 lead. It was only late on that Edinburgh stirred and when they did they suddenly looked like a side that thought they could do it. It was too late. They'd left themselves too much to do.
It was another example of the work that still needed to done on their mental strength.
Edinburgh 23-7 Glasgow Warriors
22 December, 2018
Edinburgh had recruited well under Cockerill, but some of his most stellar additions were injured for the 1872 Cup double-header. No John Barclay, no Matt Scott, no Mark Bennett. In their absence, Jimmy Johnstone and Chris Dean had improved vastly in the midfield. Two more examples of Cockerill making good players better.
In his first season he won the 1872 in the third leg. This time he had wrapped it after two rounds. In the preamble to the first game, he had trash-talked Glasgow big-time, referring to the "pin-up boys" in their ranks. It was a deliberate noising-up tactic. He did it with a smile. "All I keep hearing is how tough they are this year," he said. "They've been to fight club in pre-season and they're all now really hard. We'll see."
Cockerill's caustic words upped the ante for his own team - and they delivered. Edinburgh's power pack utterly bullied Glasgow in the first match and took care of them comfortably in the second a week later. Three wins on the bounce against their old rivals and four wins out of five under Cockerill. Edinburgh were now delivering.
Toulon 17-28 Edinburgh
12 January, 2019
Edinburgh had pulverised Toulon at Murrayfield earlier in the Champions Cup - and had won back-to-back victories against Newcastle - but this was a big one. Win this and they had control of their destiny going into the last round.
It wasn't just the victory that impressed, it was the manner of it. Edinburgh scored three sumptuous tries, two of them involving magnificent offloads from Ritchie and the freakish Mata, now safely established as one of the world's pre-eminent No 8s.
They believed they could win and played like it. They stood up to the pressure and were inspired by it.
Edinburgh 19-10 Montpellier
18 January, 2019
Early in the second half at Murrayfield, Ruan Pienaar put Montpellier 10-9 ahead and into top spot of their Champions Cup group. They didn't score another point after that. Edinburgh scored 10 and won the game through the ferocity of their defence, the thunder of their forwards and their all-round composure and maturity.
Darcy Graham got the winning try. He is another player who has developed impressively on Cockerill's watch.
Edinburgh never looked spooked under the strain of a big occasion, they never looked anything other than a team with a belief and an identity. Cockerill was asked in the aftermath about the greatest difference between Edinburgh when he took over and the Edinburgh we see now and he said "resilience."
That one word covers a multitude of improvements in what has been an epic turnaround.