'It wound me up' - Edinburgh prop reveals comments from Glasgow players driving motivation for improvement
Friendly rivalry spurring D’arcy Rae on to prove Edinburgh’s doubters wrong
Edinburgh prop D’arcy Rae says that comments made by Glasgow Warriors players within the Scotland national team camp are spurring him on to help his side improve.
The 31-year old, a former Warrior himself, stressed that the jokes were not intended to be nor taken as disrespectful and were simply part of the rivalry between the two proud clubs. However, he did admit to being ‘wound up’ and now wants the capital side to start showing they can be just as good as the current URC leaders.
They will get that chance this Sunday when they head to Dublin to face Leinster in the Champions Cup Round of 16. Edinburgh are massive underdogs for the tie but Rae says they are desperate to prove their doubters wrong.
‘We can show we aren’t just the other team in Scotland’
“Last time we were in Ireland, the night before we played at the Aviva, we were watching Edinburgh’s game against Ulster and the Glasgow boys were watching in the team room. They were like ‘What the f**k are they up to?’
“That made me feel more like I have to prove this, because obviously I played at Glasgow, and when I first came to Edinburgh I called it the dark side. Now I’m like, ‘No, I’m with Edinburgh and we need to show what we can do.’
“Glasgow are at the top of the league and we’re pretty much at the bottom, so if we can do something in Europe we can actually show that we aren’t just the other team in Scotland. I want to be able to go out there, put my hand up and be like ‘Aye, we’ve done it. We’ve given our all and we’ve chanced it.’ If it doesn’t come off, it doesn’t come off. If it does, amazing, and we go again.
“They [Warriors players] were just like, ‘you boys are s**t’ and I was like, ‘f**k off, come on.’ It's a rivalry, isn't it? Stuff like, ‘You boys enjoy the Challenge Cup next year’ and all that, you know what I mean? It's all that kind of s**t. Maybe not quite laughing at it but it was all little chirps and little niggles and it just wound me up. So the next day I was champing at the bit to get on.”
Edinburgh aim to ‘show what they can do’ as daunting Leinster trip awaits in Champions Cup
It’s now time for Rae to channel that frustration and try and lift Edinburgh on the pitch. It starts with the chance to pull off a historic upset at the Aviva Stadium this weekend.
“Quite a lot of people have said we’re nothing,” said Rae. “It was like switching us off, saying we can’t do anything with it. But it’s knockout rugby, so if we go out there and perform, and show what we can actually do.
“We have done that - against Toulon, I guess. They came here, quite a star-studded team, and we showed them what we can do. I didn’t play in that game, but I’m playing this weekend, so maybe I can show what I can do as well.
“We’ve had a few meetings with just players and it’s just been that - we’ve said ‘we need to buy in here, we need to do something, make some changes and try and do something with our season’, because if we don’t do something with our season, that’s another season just gone.’”
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