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BBC News
01-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'Gilchrist leads strange welcoming committee for Bath's Russell'
European Challenge Cup: Edinburgh v BathWhere: Hive Stadium, Edinburgh When: Saturday, 3 May Time: 15:00 BSTCoverage: Follow live updates on the BBC Sport website and app There's a smile on the face of Grant Gilchrist when the chat turns to Finn Russell and what Edinburgh might have in store for the Scotland fly-half when Bath come to town on Saturday for the semi-final of the European Challenge veteran lock, close to 14 years an Edinburgh man, knows all about Bath's status as the runaway leaders in England's Premiership. He has seen the footage of the landslide wins, the 40, 50 and 60-pointers, all inspired by the marvel in the 10 is why he is smiling. Russell's homecoming is a very big deal and the bid to stop him wreaking havoc is what is floating Gilchrist's boat."This can be a tough place to play, whoever you are," he says, on the latest Scotland Rugby Podcast. "We've got so much respect for Finn and for Bath as a team, but they've got a proposition on their hands if they think they're coming up here just to have a walk in the park."We're not coming here on Saturday just to hope it's cagey and hope that they have an off day. They're coming to our home and we've got to go and put our game on them and if it's not good enough then we can look ourselves in the mirror and say we're beaten by a better team. But our mindset has got to be that we're going after them." 'Finn is a master with quick ball' Gilchrist is not just one of Edinburgh's leaders; he has, too many times, been the man who has had to step forward and explain the non-performances and near-misses that are in the DNA of the are the great underachievers and they know it. For Gilchrist, who has been an Edinburgh fan since he was a boy, it has been an emotional ride. The pride he feels in wearing the jersey is absolute, as is the dejection he has shown when things have gone wrong. He wears his heart on his sleeve. The search for a trophy has almost become an obsession at this has played in a Heineken Cup semi-final and a Pro14 semi-final, both against Ulster and both lost. And here he is again, still fighting and still believing, even when most pundits reckon that Bath will have too much for do Edinburgh have to get right against Russell's boys? "As a pack of forwards, we play our best rugby when we've got that intensity and that scrappiness, when we're sticking up for each other and flying into everything," he says. A few weeks back, a Sharks squad containing 10 World Cup winners and six double World Cup winners came to Edinburgh and tried to "bully us", as Gilchrist puts it. The Sharks won late, late in the day, but it was a battle and Edinburgh went toe-to-toe in the physical that consistency has been their issue for years. "We've spoken about that being a kind of DNA moment," he says of recent performances against South African packs. "That's got to be every week. That can't just be when a big South African team comes here to bash you, or when a big English team like this weekend comes to bash you."Bath can scrap, but they would rather out-play you with their pace and vision, with Russell pulling all the 16 games in three different competitions this season, they've hit the 40-point mark. They put more than 50 on Newcastle Falcons and Gloucester - and more than 60 on Gloucester and knows what is coming if Edinburgh allow them to play. "We're gonna have to defend unbelievably well," he said. "We're gonna have to be as connected as we've been. Our first-phase defence is gonna have to stop them on the gainline."I've seen teams trying to go after Finn, focusing on him and trying to smash him, but he's too good a player for that. His passing game is too good. "So, in the physical exchanges, when they carry, it has to be off slow ball. If it's quick ball or if we are on the back foot then we know that Finn is a master." 'We've got to write our own story' The Edinburgh players decided unanimously that they wanted this game played at the Hive rather than in the main stadium at Murrayfield. They want the place to be full and raucous. It is also going be "a little bit out of the comfort zone for Finn to come here with a different atmosphere to what he might expect".Gilchrist talks about the motivation to win, not just for himself or the current squad but for all the others who have gone before, reams of players who have "given their heart and soul" to Edinburgh without ever having had any title to show for is a mammoth task staring them in the face on Saturday. "Glasgow, rightly, got all the plaudits last season (when they won the URC), but we've got to write our own story - and our own story is this weekend,"Gilchrist his return to Scotland, Russell is going to have a strange kind of welcoming committee waiting for him.
BBC News
06-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Lang calls for Edinburgh to be more 'ruthless'
James Lang says Edinburgh need to be more ruthless as they target a run deep into the European Challenge capital side beat Lions 24-12 at Hive Stadium to set up a home quarter-final against South African outfit led 17-0 at the break before Lions crossed for two second-half tries and Lang says his side must learn to keep their foot on the throttle when they get on top of teams."I'm happy with the performance," Lang told BBC Scotland. "I think the first half was very impressive."We took the foot off a little bit in the second half. They came out firing, which we knew they would. It was a tough encounter against a very strong line side, but ecstatic with the win."I guess the growth in this team now is how we can sustain that pressure, be relentless with it and then start fast again that second half."I guess it's a mentality thing. I think we're on a nice run now and there's a lot of belief in the squad and we've just got to be a bit more ruthless in those situations."We want to win silverware, but we don't want to look too far ahead. It's next week mentality, so we've just got to focus on the positives from today, but there's a good few things we can improve on to get better as a team and take that into next week."
BBC News
04-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Edinburgh see off Lions to reach last eight
European Challenge CupEdinburgh (17) 24Tries: Goosen, Vellacott, Ritchie, Price Cons: Thompson 2Lions (0) 12Tries: Horn, Visagie Cons: Steyn Edinburgh held off the Lions to book their place in the quarter-finals of the European Challenge home side took control from the off and crossed for first-half tries from Wes Goosen, Ben Vellacott and Jamie Horn and Jaco Visagie hit back for the South African side after the break either side of a try from Ali Price for the home side, but it was not enough as Edinburgh ensured their passage to the last Everitt's side will face either Bayonne or Vodacom Bulls at home in next weekend's low point of Edinburgh's season was a grisly 55-21 URC hammering by the Lions in Johannesburg in South African side are a different proposition away from home, however, and it took Edinburgh just 80 seconds to carve them open, Goosen marking his 50th appearance for the club by finishing off a slick home side started at a high tempo, aided by the sharp service of Vellacott, and the scrum-half darted through a gap around the fringes to score Edinburgh's second electric break from deep from Darcy Graham took Edinburgh into back into the red zone before Ritchie powered over to give the hosts a 17-0 lead at the capital side looked to be cruising to victory after a dominant first-half performance, but the Lions took the initiative after the break and a try from captain Horn gave them match lost its fluency through a succession of stoppages and replacements, with neither side able to exert any meaningful pressure near their opponent's was until Matt Currie sliced through the Lions defence on a terrific line and found substitute Price on his shoulder for the were not done yet and substitute hooker Visagie stretched brilliantly for the line to bring the visitors back within 12, but it was too little and too late as Edinburgh saw it out to progress to the quarter-finals. Line-ups Edinburgh: Goosen, Graham, Currie, Lang, McCann, Thompson, Vellacott; P Schoeman, Cherry, Sebastian, Skinner, Gilchrist, Ritchie, Watson, Ashman, Venter, Williams, Young, Douglas, Price, Scott, Q Horn, Kriel, Rass, Jonker, Van der Merwe, Lombard, Van den Berg; Kotze, Marais, Ntlabakanye, R Schoeman, Landsberg, Cairns, Venter, F Visagie, J Schoeman, RF Schoeman, Esterhuizen, Qoma, Steyn, Pretorius, Ludovic Cayre
