
Edinburgh 47-17 Ulster: Three things we learned
Watson is force again Save for a few worrying moments when Ulster came back at them, Edinburgh put in a meaty performance and conjured one of their best wins of the season. They were physical, creative and pretty ruthless. They stormed into the last eight and have momentum now. Their pack is firing, their backline is delivering tries, there's a fire about them that's lovely to see. A few folk typify it - Magnus Bradbury, Ben Muncaster, Jamie Ritchie and, most especially, Hamish Watson, who's been wildly impressive. He's turning back the clock. Gregor Townsend might be watching...Bulls a different challengeThe South Africans are on an excellent run, but games against Edinburgh are usually close. The home team has won every one of them, but the margins have been narrow - 34-28 Edinburgh, 22-16 Bulls, 31-23 Edinburgh, 33-31 Bulls. The most recent meeting was only a few short weeks ago when Edinburgh beat them at the Hive in the quarter-final of the Challenge Cup.They know they can do it at home, but doing it in Pretoria is a different level. They'll travel with belief, though. Edinburgh have found some steel in recent months. If they can stand up to the Sharks (and should have beaten them) then they can do the same against the Bulls.Graham answers Lions snubThe winger was a buzz bomb against Ulster; so alert, so sharp, so influential, so ruthless. Three tries and yet more confirmation that even though he has somehow missed out on the Lions, he remains one of the most exciting wings in the world.He's now on 15 tries in his 25 games this season following on eight in 10 last season and 16 in 14 the season before. That's 39 tries in his last 49 games for club and country.Andy Farrell has got this one wrong.
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BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
'Nucifora's plan for Scottish talent has to work'
Scottish Rugby's biggest battle is not taking place in Dublin this weekend when Glasgow take on Leinster in the semi-final of the United Rugby not taking place in the summer when the women's team play in the World Cup or next spring when Gregor Townsend's boys reappear for the Six are enormously important events, but they're not as critical as the piece of work performance director David Nucifora has been doing for months, the first stirrings of which are now public on the Scottish Rugby excelled in his work on the player pathway in Ireland over the course of a decade. He now has to repeat the trick in Scotland, with the emphasis on the 'has to'. As in, this has to much depends on it. If the future of the professional game in Scotland is to have a chance of a bright future then talented young players need to be given better opportunities. It's not fair to compare a giant rugby country like France with a small nation like Scotland, but it's no harm to look at how the best do they met at under-20 level in the final weekend of the Six Nations just gone - it was a thriller which France won to become champions - there was a marked difference between the experience of the French boys compared to their Scottish of France's 23 have played club rugby this season, compared to four of Scotland's squad. The French lads have appeared for Bordeaux, Toulouse, Toulon, La Rochelle and eight other sides, playing a combined 106 matches in the Top 14, Europe and Pro D2. Scotland's figure is giving their youth a chance in France. Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Theo Attissogbe, Oscar Jegou, Hugo Auradou, Nolann Le Garrec and Leo Barre all played a part in France's Six Nations title and none of them are over 22 years old. Can Nucifora cultivate & improve 'reasonable landscape'? Scotland can't copy that but they can be inspired by it. Up and down the country you'll hear testimony from club folk about the deficiencies of Scottish rugby's talent identification and the woolly thinking on player hear them talk of their own talented players who have slipped through the net. Allow for exaggeration of the merits of their local heroes, but they can't all be wrong. Many of them are almost certainly Seb Stephen, the 19-year-old Glasgow hooker, to Freddy Douglas, the 20-year-old Edinburgh openside phenomenon, the landscape is reasonable. Max Williamson, Alex Samuel, Macenzzie Duncan, and Patrick Harrison are only 22. Gregor Brown, Euan Ferrie, Ben Muncaster, Jamie Dobie, Gergor Hiddleston and Harry Paterson are are excellent young players at Glasgow and Edinburgh. Nucifora's prime job is to deliver a system that produces more of them. More players and better prepared players in a sustainable his reimagining of the pathways and the pursuit of new heads of nutrition, rehab and physio, athletic performance and sports science, performance analysis, operation and logistics and coach development, the SRU are throwing a lot of money at Nucifora's new a world that will still include non-Scottish qualified players at Glasgow and Edinburgh, but a strong case will need to be made each time. Foreign players getting in the road of young Scots is something that Nucifora railed against in Ireland. His hard-line approach upset a lot of people in the provinces. The flak appeared to be water off a duck's back. 'Players need to be stressed & stretched' There's a word that Nucifora constantly goes back to when he is talking about how to get the best out of players - need to be stressed and stretched, he says. They need to feel pressure, they need to be looking over their shoulder and seeing a hungry rival for their position. He doesn't quite say dog-eat-dog, but that's where he's coming they also need to be given the tools to deal with that stress and that's where this new vision and this SRU investment comes in. It'll take a while to see if it works, but Nucifora probably knows more about making it work than most in the who loves the game in Scotland is fond of telling the SRU how to spend its money. Glasgow fans are upset right now that they didn't spend to keep their talismanic back-row Henco Venter at Scotstoun for another few brutal reality is that wage inflation is a serious issue for financially challenged unions. If Venter was given a new deal at Scotstoun, what's sacrificed elsewhere? There's only so much money to go Murrayfield they have to pick their battles on that front. They're forced to prioritise. They win one with Sione Tuipulotu, who's on a new deal, and they lose one with Tom Jordan, who's on his way to Bristol. It's the way of things in Scotland; a balancing act in an increasingly expensive will win or lose on Saturday. Bryan Easson's team will rise or fall at the World Cup. Townsend's players will go forwards or backwards in the uncertainty can't exist around Nucifora's plan to improve the talent flow. It has to be a success. The stakes are too high.


Glasgow Times
2 hours ago
- Glasgow Times
James Batchelor hopes to follow in brother Joe's footsteps and win Challenge Cup
While major silverware still eludes the 27-year-old Rovers second rower, older brother Joe won the prestigious trophy with St Helens in 2021 and also has two Grand Final triumphs to his name. James credits his riotous introduction to rugby league to the impact of his brother – his senior by three years – and is determined to emulate him when the Robins get another chance to end their 40-year trophyless streak against Warrington. Batchelor told the PA news agency: 'I definitely want what my brother's got. He's already got one and I want one to match it, and although there's always been a rivalry between us I'm sure he wants me to get one because he knows how much it means to me.' James Batchelor is determined to match the exploits of older brother Joe at Wembley (Mike Egerton/PA) Batchelor admits the sibling rivalry between the pair was not always so healthy when they were growing up in West Yorkshire, with the younger brother eager to prove himself in games against much bigger and more physical friends. 'It could get pretty fierce at times,' recalled Batchelor. 'We were at each other 24-7, kicking lumps out of each other in the garden, and we drove our mum up the wall. 'But it definitely drove us both on, and I got used to playing with him and his mates who were a lot older than me. When they're all going through growth spurts and I'm not growing, it definitely toughens you up because you have to get on with it and you get no sympathy at that age.' Since joining Rovers in 2023, Batchelor has been integral to the club's rise to the top of the Super League table, but was also part of the setbacks of losing the 2023 Challenge Cup final in heartbreaking fashion to Leigh, and last year's Grand Final against Wigan at Old Trafford. Batchelor believes those tough losses have equipped his club to kick on and put an end to a much-publicised streak without silverware, which stretches back to Rovers' 1985 title win in what was then the Slalom Lager League. 'There's a lot of factors that add up, including the excitement of being back at Wembley for the second time in three years, but also having that motivation to get rid of the hurt of those two losses and go one better this time,' he added. 'We said after the 2023 final that we could either fade away or learn from it and kick on, and that's what we did. Every setback we've had at this club in recent years, we've been able to work on it and come back stronger. 'The 40-year thing is also a big deal, the taunting our supporters get about it, many of whom have been with us a long time and have been through it. 'All these things fuel the fire towards Saturday, and we definitely want to go out and win the trophy for our fans.'


BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Robertson among four Hearts departures
Hearts have confirmed the departures of Lisa Robertson, Naomi Powell, Beth Rennie and Ashleigh scored twice in 15 appearances after joining the club last summer from Edinburgh rivals midfielder Robertson, 33, departs despite having a year left on her contract after making 32 appearances following her move from Williams joined in February from Texas Tech Raiders and scored on her debut against Queen's Park, but then suffered an injury that ruled out her out for the remainder of the Rennie, a 19-year-old Hearts academy graduate, signed her first professional contract last summer then spent the season on loan at Dundee United.