Regrets? Edinburgh have a few as they beat Aironi 32–15

Edinburgh’s Magners League match against Italian side Aironi on Friday night was, in league terms, a dead rubber. In a league without relegation, a contest between the bottom team and the team just four places above it is pretty well meaningless.

As a result, only 1,500 people turned up at Murrayfield – but those who did make the effort saw Edinburgh recapture the sort of form they showed to dispose of the Ospreys in their last home match. They played in a way that, had they done so earlier in the season, would surely have seen them compete for a playoff spot. Tim Visser’s first-half try was worth the entry fee on its own. The big Dutch winger took his opposite number on the outside, then beat two more defenders with a sidestep on the inside. In doing so, he scored his 13th try of the season – a Magners League record. Visser was the league’s top scorer last year with ten tries and, although there are four more games this season than last, his 13 tries so far (with two more games to go) show that he is, without doubt, the best finisher in the league.

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Visser also pulled off three try-saving tackles, keeping the Italians out of the game when they could have crept back in contention. Visser is worth as much to the capital side as Todd Blackadder was a few years ago: it is just a shame he has to wait so long for his residency qualifications to enable him to play for Scotland. However, as far as the man-of-the-match award was concerned, Visser was eclipsed by David Denton, the 21-year-old Edinburgh number eight. Denton was immense. Time and again he took the ball into contact against a heavyweight and experienced Italian pack and each time he made ground, often considerable ground. He was big and powerful and did what sides need their number eights to do – take the ball up the middle of the park in a no-nonsense, aggressive way. It was gratifying to see a young Scottish player of such raw power and drive – but, again, Denton isn’t actually Scottish. Born in Zimbabwe and schooled in South Africa, he qualifies to play for Scotland through his mother and already looks a very promising prospect. Nick de Luca was another to shine on Friday night. For once, he managed to combine the silky touches and sidesteps Edinburgh fans know he is capable of with a previously unheralded aggression. De Luca has long been a player who has flattered to deceive. He certainly possesses all the skills to become an international centre, but has never really made the transition from good club player to Scotland star. He performance on Friday, though, when he looked hungrier for the ball than for years, suggests that something has clicked. Maybe his try for Scotland against Italy has given him the appetite for more, maybe the return of Graeme Morrison for Glasgow has focused his mind – or maybe Nick Scrivener, the Edinburgh coach, just gave him a kick up the backside. Whatever it was, it seems to have worked and De Luca was excellent against Aironi. A few more performances like that and he will play himself into Andy Robinson’s starting XV for the world cup. However, for all the encouraging signs from these players, there was also enough to worry Edinburgh fans ahead of next season. The first try was scored by Fraser Mackenzie, a lock playing at flanker. He has been Edinburgh’s most improved player this season but he won’t be at Murrayfield next year. He has signed for Sale Sharks instead. Scott MacLeod was the pick of the locks. His lineout work was excellent, as was his performance in the loose. He won’t be in Edinburgh next season either, having decided to pursue his career in Japan. Greig Laidlaw again played well at fly-half, but his departure to the sin bin in the first half revealed an acute lack of depth there. Indeed, Edinburgh must be the only professional side in the world at the moment to routinely go into full-on league games without a recognised fly-half in their squad. Laidlaw is a scrum-half deputising as a fly-half and, although he is doing well, he is having to learn on the job. Phil Godman has been out all season. David Blair has all but retired from top-flight rugby, Alex Blair has been injured for much of the season, Chris Paterson hasn’t really had a run of games at ten since his Gala days and Rory Hutton – the only other potential fly-half to play for Edinburgh in the last couple of years – was let go at the end of last season. As a result, when Laidlaw was in the bin last week, winger Simon Webster had to deputise as first receiver. Webster is a out-and-out winger and in no way is he a fly-half. It does seem incredible that Edinburgh can make do with such a patched-up approach, but it perhaps an indication of the team’s hopeless position in the league, without a chance of making the playoffs, and the lack of relegation, that has brought this about. Those very same factors inevitably conspired to push the attendance down to a paltry 1,565 on Friday, which is a shame. There was really good rugby on offer, the crowd saw four good tries and an open, fast game packed with incident. How different it would be had Edinburgh actually being pushing for a playoff spot. A few more wins earlier in the season and they could have been up there with the Irish provinces. Friday night’s crowd would have been bigger, the team would have been on a roll and everything would have looked brighter. One can only hope Edinburgh learn from this season and don’t make the same mistakes next year.

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3. Edinburgh outmuscled by Munster at Murrayfield