Edinburgh Rugby vow to 'keep fighting' as season threatens to disintegrate

Coming hard on the heels of the hammering by Bath in the Champions Cup the previous week, this was tough to take for Sean Everitt's side who led 17-5 at half-time but went down 19-17.

They have now lost six of their nine games in the URC and also surrendered their unbeaten record at Hive Stadium. Supporter discontent is starting to grow.

At the halfway point of their regular season, the play-offs seem a long way off, particularly when you consider the games Edinburgh still have to play, starting with Leinster away next weekend. There is then a league break for the opening three rounds of the Six Nations before Edinburgh resume with home games against Scarlets and Ulster. After that it’s a trip to South Africa to take on the Lions and Stormers.

Edinburgh did it the hard way last season, finishing the campaign strongly after some difficult moments to claim seventh place and reach the play-offs for the first time in three years. A similarly robust recovery will be again required, said Grant Gilchrist, their experienced second row.

“We've got to keep fighting,” said Gilchrist. “We won't give up, that's for certain. There was a lot of stuff - in that first half especially - which was as good as we'd been, in terms of how we finished off our tries in the 22.

“We've seen the guys moving the ball, our attack flowed a lot better, we were getting into space. Our x-factor players had the ball in their hands and we've got to take those positives.

“The big thing is if you get overpowered and you can't kick and exit properly, then you're going to struggle to win a game of rugby.”

Next week’s game in Dublin now seems pivotal for Edinburgh. Both sides are likely to be without a number of their frontline internationals ahead of the opening round of the Six Nations but Leinster’s formidable strength in depth makes them clear favourites. The game is also a dress rehearsal for the Champions Cup last-16 tie between the sides which is scheduled for Easter Sunday and Gilchrist stressed the need to pick up some URC points.

“Yes, we have to,” he said. “Every game now is everything for us. We can't have any attitude.

“We put ourselves in this position, we have to fight. We didn't want to be here, but we have also been here before, so we have to draw a bit of belief from that. Every time we’re out on the field, we've got to pick up points, we've got to pick up wins and get ourselves back into it week by week until we get to the end of the season.”

Gilchrist will join up with the Scotland squad today [Sunday] after coming through the Bulls game unscathed, his first match since picking up a thigh injury over the Christmas period.

“It was good to get back out there,” he said. “I had a little tear in my quad and was frustrated to miss a few weeks. It was good for me to get 80 minutes under my belt, it just really stings [the result].

“I was always aiming for this game. The medics did a great job and got me back bang on.”