'Same problems arise as Edinburgh lose to Benetton'

BBC News

25-03-2025

At the end of September 2024, following defeat to Bulls, I wrote that Edinburgh required a specialist lineout coach as inaccuracies in that area went a long way to us losing that game.Fast forward six months and the very same problem has bitten us again as both our hookers failed to get pass marks for their darts against Benetton and their inability to link with the jumpers consistently has cost us dearly.It wasn't all their fault, but if you are failing with around half your lineouts then praise or prizes may elude you.Before we move on from that particular issue, I have a further question. Who was calling the lineouts? They might want to consider that if you've brought a sub on at hooker that perhaps the first thing you ask him to do, a throw to the tail (probably the hardest throw to get right) might not have been the best option.Back in September I also criticised our over-dependence on one-out passes and that also haunted us against Benetton. Just after Ewan Ashman's try, Ross McCann made a great break. He could probably have reached out and scored but instead the ball was recycled and we went through 10 phases of one-out passes on the Benetton try line yet failed to score. If we had done better there then we would have had a two-score lead and that may have made a huge difference to the final outcome.Other factors, or excuses if you prefer, that contributed include a ridiculous yellow card for Ben Muncaster in the first half. A contact so fleeting it could have been mistaken for an air kiss.Benetton's ability to include some players who had been Six Nations regulars such as Simone Ferrari, Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello and Italian captain Michele Lamaro off the bench. Even the introduction of 40-year-old Agustin Creevy was a point of difference for Benetton.The rest protocol for Scotland players is not a new thing but we still struggle to deal with these absences. We started the weekend in seventh and a good win could have seen us in fifth. Instead we are 11th and our race to the eight could be over before you can say boo to a Goosen.Sandy Smith can be found at The Burgh Watch, external