Edinburgh’s huge improvement under Richard Cockerill has a downside – Scotland’s new demands on his personnel.
With Scotland’s first Autumn Test against Wales in Cardiff just eight days away and no exiles eligible because the game is outside World Rugby’s designated international window, Cockerill’s resources are stretched thin for this week’s Guinness PRO14 visit to Parma to play Zebre and next week’s home game against Scarlets.
Four players could make their competitive debut for Edinburgh in Italy tonight – including Italian international prop Pietro Cecciarelli – and Cockerill’s second row combination of Jamie Hodgson and Calum Hunter-Hill have just 40 minutes PRO14 experience between them.
“We’re happy to have any back (from the Scotland camp) really,” said Cockerill. “In certain positions, like second row with (Fraser) McKenzie and (Lewis) Carmichael injured it leaves us short which is just bad luck.
“It’s a feather in our cap that so many guys are away on test duty. We’re creating an environment where they can get better and we’ve played pretty well for the past 15 months.”
It does create problems for Cockerill though, and he notes that most of the leading Zebre international players have been released.
“We’ve double figures of players missing, they’ve got seven or eight of the 23 that will play for Italy next week in their squad,” he said. “They’ve got to play this game and get to Chicago by next Saturday, which is an interesting call.
“I think we’ve still got a very good side available. This is the first time we’ve been together – we travelled yesterday but Hodgson and Hunter-Hill, (replacements) Callum Atkinson and Mungo Mason – those guys haven’t been involved with us really.
“We’ve got to see where we’re at and how some of our younger players cope with this. But they’re young Scottish-qualified guys who will hopefully step up to the mark.”
Edinburgh have appeared at the top of most of the PRO14’s lists of stats marking game fundamentals – retention of ball at scrum and lineout, goal-kicking, exit efficiency – and while that’s a sure sign that they’re doing things right, only one stat matters to Cockerill.
“I suppose it’s good, but they’re just stats, though, aren’t they? The ultimate stat is whether you win or lose,” he said.
“But it shows we’ve got good players doing good things and we’re solid in our foundations. Whether you’re playing really well or having a slight off day, you have to go back to the foundations of your game.
“We’re obviously pleased that we’re building a solid culture at the club and if the stats show that, then great. But ultimately we’ve got to try and win games, so it’s a foundation for us to build from.”
They are solid building blocks to create a more attacking game, while still having their staples to fall back on, added the coach.
“The way we play is probably a little bit more percentage rugby, but that is because our forward pack is well drilled and does a very good job. And we’re starting to build a back line that can run the ball, as we saw (against Toulon) last week.
“It’s part of the progression of our game. You can’t go from one extreme to the other – you have to make sure that you put solid building blocks in place.
“We’re a difficult team to beat. We’ve got to keep building on that and keep developing our game.”
Edinburgh (v Zebre at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Friday, kick-off 7pm BST, live on Free Sports): D Fife; D Graham, J Johnstone, C Dean, D van der Merwe; S Hickey, H Pyrgos (capt); P Schoeman, R Ford, S Berghan; J Hodgson, C Hunter-Hill; L Hamilton, L Crosbie, V Mata. Subs: D Cherry, R Sutherland, P Ceccarelli, C Atkinson, M Mason, S Kennedy, J Baggott, J Socino.
Zebre: F Brummer; M Bellini, G Bisegni, T Castello, G di Giulio; C Canna, G Palazanni; A Lovotti, O Fabiani, D Chistolini; D Sisi, G Biagi; J Bianchi, J Meyer, R Giammarioli. Subs: L Luus, D Rimpelli, G Zilocchi, L Krumov, A Tauyavuca, R Raffaele, T Boni, P Balekana.
Referee: A Brace (Ireland).