Edinburgh & Glasgow Warriors: Times to savour as Scottish duo tackle Euro stars
- Published
Blair Kinghorn's Edinburgh secured a home quarter-final in the Champions Cup and will face Munster
Given that the monied clubs of Europe are never far from Scotland's door these days with their cheque books waving and their eyelashes fluttering at Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh's biggest names, it's as well to savour the events of the weekend awhile because it's really impossible to know if, or when, we might see this again.
The rest of European rugby will surely forgive Scotland for basking in the historic achievement of having both its professional teams making it to the last eight of the Champions Cup. What's seldom is wonderful. What's unique is wondrous. Any rugby fan with a pulse will be happy for Edinburgh and Glasgow right now.
The roadmap is clear for the pair of them. Saracens will host Glasgow and Edinburgh will host Munster in the quarter-finals at the end of March. If both Scottish teams win then they play each other in the semi-final. If only Edinburgh win they will play Saracens down south. If only Glasgow win then they will play Munster in Ireland. If neither of them win then the next big job is to make sure they go again next season, bigger and stronger for the experience. This can't be the pinnacle.
Considering the alternatives - away to Saracens, Leinster or Racing - there's no doubting that Munster will be quietly chuffed with the way the draw has turned out. Not that they will be making any assumptions. The Edinburgh story has travelled this season. In Munster, they know all about the Richard Cockerill effect. They've seen, like we've all seen, a soft touch team being transformed into a teak-tough band of warriors.
'Munster will see something of themselves in Edinburgh'
Munster will bring their noise and their colour to Edinburgh. They will travel in huge numbers and will seek to turn Murrayfield red. It should be a hell of an occasion. This will be the meeting of two brutally hard rugby teams, two defences that have been deeply impressive throughout the tournament.
One of the many remarkable things about Edinburgh's revival under Cockerill is their resilience, their ability to deal with the pressure of must-win games at home and abroad.
You wouldn't call Edinburgh a second-half team, but they're a team that routinely gets better in the second half, when the heat is at its greatest. In six Champions Cup games they have conceded a grand total of 15 second-half points, an astonishingly low number. Perhaps a record low number.
Zero points conceded in the second half away to Montpellier and Newcastle Falcons and at home to Newcastle. Seven second-half points conceded at home to Toulon and five conceded away to Toulon and three given up at home to Montpellier on Friday night. This is the statistical confirmation of what we've been seeing with our own eyes.
Edinburgh have conceded just 83 points in their six games. That's a 14-point average. Only Munster (72) and Saracens (81) have been as stingy.
Edinburgh narrowly beat Munster at Murrayfield last March
Defence wins games. Great defence wins trophies of the magnitude of the Champions Cup. They haven't faced a current superpower - Leinster, Saracens, Racing - but you wouldn't back any of that illustrious lot to get anything easy out of this Edinburgh team. They have many of the same players, they appear in the same stadium in the same colours and in front of the same people, but in so many senses this is a brand new side; tough and respected.
Munster will see something of themselves in Edinburgh - a game based on solid set-piece, magnificent defence, an intensity up front and a turnover specialist at the breakdown - Hamish Watson on one side and Tadhg Beirne on the other. Munster's attacking game might be a little more developed than Edinburgh, but even on that front Edinburgh are making big strides. When you've got Bill Mata, you've got a chance.
The pressure will be on Munster, no question. They might be a double European champion, but they've been starved of proper success for the longest time. Munster's desire for a trophy is vast, not just because their support is desperate to return to the years of plenty, but because they're fed up watching Leinster take the prizes and the plaudits.
Munster led the way for Ireland in Europe, winning two Heineken Cups before Leinster won any. Now Leinster have four and Munster are still on two. That's not a landscape that Munster fans want to gaze at for long.
There is a feel-good factor about this team, though. A new-found confidence after the summer arrival of Joey Carbery at 10 and Beirne in the back row. Edinburgh have that confidence, too. This quarter-final could be very special.
Glasgow have to get everything 'perfect'
Glasgow have it all to do against Saracens. Their first task is to get as many of their big guns fit and well, for the notion that Dave Rennie's team can take down Sarries in their own backyard with a weakened team is the stuff of fantasy.
They made a decent fist of it for a while at the weekend - some of their attacking rugby was breathless and brilliant - but it was double-scores by the end. They delivered a big physical performance and kept Sarries scoreless in the second half at Scotstoun earlier in the campaign but still lost by 10.
At their best - their very, very best - Glasgow might have the game to bring Mark McCall's team to the wire, but pretty much everything would need to be perfect. They'd need all their injured stars back in the frame - Fraser Brown with George Turner as back-up, Zander Fagerson, Matt Fagerson, Callum Gibbins, Pete Horne.
Warriors have lost twice to Saracens this season
On Saturday they'd lost both Jonny Gray and Ryan Wilson by the 46th minute, just as they'd lost Gibbins and Matt Fagerson by the ninth minute against Cardiff Blues the previous weekend. They don't need that kind of rotten luck.
They're there, though. That's all that matters for now. They're back at the top table. Scottish rugby is stirring, that's for sure. Is this the start of an adventure or have we already arrived at the peak? Who knows.
In the past, the Scottish Rugby Union has been powerless to keep some of its best players on their books. Former Glasgow lock Leone Nakarawa went to Racing, Finn Russell joined him, and Stuart Hogg is off to Exeter at the end of the season. In the face of interest from elsewhere, contract renegotiations for Edinburgh and Glasgow's key players are so hard fought and so complex nowadays that Scottish Rugby should borrow a signal from Rome and release the white smoke every time a stellar name is retained.
That process is ongoing - as are the two teams at the heart of it. Progress made, excitement built, expectation rising. These are days to savour.