URC: Munster v Edinburgh: Stevie Lawrie admits a jump in energy levels required for Cork trip

02/27/2025 05:04 PM

EDINBURGH assistant coach Stevie Lawrie has admitted that there is no excuse for Edinburgh’s low energy performance when losing at home to Zebre a fortnight ago, and says he understands why supporters are frustrated by the team’s current inconsistency and lack of attacking swagger which has left the ninth in the URC table and needing to make up ground in order to qualify for the end of season play-offs and the 2025-26 Champions Cup.

Speaking on the eve of the capital club’s away match against Munster, the former hooker confirmed that the injuries which have ruled  Clayton McMillan  (hip) out of the trip to Cork are not thought to be long-term issues.

“It’s just a tweak,” said Lawrie of the Boffelli injury. “I think these things happen when you come back from an injury to your back and sometimes it just affects other parts so that’s all part and parcel coming back from something. It was a shame for him though because I know how excited he was to get back out there and how passionate he is about the club and about doing well for us.

Arnold Clark Men's Premiership: Friday night lights at Stoneyhill

TOL Pod: Episode 31: Farewell (for now), Calcutta

URC: Munster v Edinburgh: Ewan Ashman and Sam Skinner among seven changes for Cork trip

“Again, I don’t think it’s a long term thing [with Healy], he just picked up a bit of a niggle in the week, I think he got a bang in his hip or something but it’s very much a short term thing.

“Harry’s just progressing, I think these things are always about player welfare so we want to make sure that they’re absolutely good to go. He just had a wee step back as he goes through that ladder to recover so nothing to worry about but he’s just pushed back just a little bit.”

Healy’s unavailability has opened the door for Cammy Scott – who has managed only four minutes for Edinburgh this season and was a stand-out performer for Heriot’s against Ayr in the Arnold Clark Men’s Premiership last weekend – to come back into the match-day squad as stand-off back-up. At 23, the playmaker is at the stage where he needs a chance to make the step from prospect to genuine starting option.

“I love Cammy’s energy and it’s great that he’s on the bench to get a shot, and he’s somebody that’s constantly being discussed at length in selection meetings because that’s the feedback that every time he’s gone to the club game he’s performed with aplomb and he has put his best foot forward, so I believe he’ll be good at the weekend,” said Lawrie.

“He’ll get a chance at the weekend again. I think he’s a tough lad and he’s got a good-skill set and I think just with his temperament as well, he’s somebody that’s going to come through, I firmly believe it.”

Edinburgh are boosted by the release of a number of players from Scotland’s Six Nations set-up, and Lawrie says he is looking forward to seeing the likes of Ewan Ashman, Sam Skinner, Patrick Harrison and Luke Crosbie make an impact.

“I think energy is the thing that we need, you know, and I think when you come off a loss like Zebre, it was a game that lacked energy from us,” he acknowledged. “I thought we lacked the ambition to attack the space that we needed to attack, whether that be through, round or over, so I think having boys coming back in is definitely helpful. We’re excited to have them back in, but we’re also excited about the opportunity for the guys who have been working hard here.

“There’s no excuse for that [lack of energy against Zebre].. So we reviewed the week, it was actually one of those coaching weeks that you go: ‘We’re on the money here’. We felt like we had a really positive one, and then when we played, it was clear to see that we didn’t ball shift like we wanted to shift, and that was probably encompassed in the 15 versus 13 at the end [when Zebre had a player yellow-carded and a player red-carded] to go and get five points [and not managing it], and that was a heavy part of the review, because Zebre are a good team, and they did show up with a lot of passion and put us under a lot of pressure, and we didn’t execute at the end.

“It’s one that we’ve reflected on hard, but more with the players to be honest with you, to say look, the game model’s agreed and it certainly isn’t: ‘Let’s go into our shell and let’s not express ourselves in the way that we want to express ourselves.’ So, we’ve got to look at how we go and put our game out on the field, and that was disappointing.

“We’ve now got an opportunity and it’s all to play for within this league. You’ve got to scrap for every single point, the league is incredibly tight, it’s incredibly exciting, so it’s certainly not been a case of reviewing Zebre and looking at it head in hands at all. It’s a case of where were the opportunities that we missed, and we’ve got to access these opportunities, because that’s what people want to see.

“I think that was the biggest frustration for everybody at the club, was the fact that we didn’t access the space and play the game that we have shown that we’ve played in other games, at home against Stormers and various other games.

“What we need is cohesion and we need to make sure that we put out a game model, as I said, that’s exciting. It’s not a case of always just playing more, it’s a case of accessing the space. Zebre came 15-0 in terms of front-line and nobody in the back-line and we didn’t quite access that. We could have made life a bit easier for ourselves when you’ve got 15 charged up Italians coming at you,

“Our job [as coaches] is to lay out a plan and make sure that the players buy in and then it’s their job through the week to drive that plan and for whatever reason at the minute it’s just not quite clicking in the way that it needs to click.

“I do think it’s one part but our job as coaches is to put the appropriate amount of pressure on the players to get the best from them and we’ve also got to reflect on what our training behaviours look like because in pro sport there’s no getting away from that.”

Munster are currently fifth in the URC table and announced earlier today [Thursday] that New Zealander Clayton McMillan will take over as head coach in the summer, following the surprise departure by “mutual agreement” of Graham Rowntree in October. In the meantime, Ian Costello will continue as interim head coach.

The Irish province have been boosted by the return of Kiwi centre Alex Nankivell after 10 weeks out with a hamstring injury as they look to pick up their third URC win in a row. Gavin Coombes has been retained in Ireland’s camp ahead of next week’s Six Nations meeting with France but Calvin Nash and John Hodnett have been released to star on the wing and at openside flanker respectively.

Edinburgh Rugby (versus Munster @ Virgin Media Park in Cork on Friday, kick-off 7.35pm): W Goosen; M Currie, J Lang, M Tuipulotu, R McCann; R Thompson, B Vellacott ©; B Venter, E Ashman, P Hill, M Sykes, S Skinner, L Crosbie, B Muncaster, M Bradbury. Subs: P Harrison, R Hislop, D Rae, G Young, H Watson, A Price, C Scott, M Bennett.

Munster: B O’Connor; C Nash, T Farrell, A Nankivell, S McCarthy; B Burns, E Coughlan; J Wycherley, N Scannell, J Ryan; E O’Connell, F Wycherley, T Ahern, J Hodnett, B Gleeson. Subs: D Barron, M Donnelly, S Archer, R Quinn, A Kendellen, P Patterson, T Butler, S O’Brien

Unavailable due to injury: Emiliano Boffelli (hamstring), Ben Healy (hip), Connor Boyle (knee), Tom Dodd (shoulder), Jamie Hodgson (tricep), Harry Paterson (concussion), Lewis Wells (ankle).

International duty: Dave Cherry, Grant Gilchrist, Darcy Graham, Jamie Ritchie, Pierre Schoeman, Duhan van der Merwe.

URC: Munster v Edinburgh: Ewan Ashman and Sam Skinner among seven changes for Cork trip

The post URC: Munster v Edinburgh: Stevie Lawrie admits a jump in energy levels required for Cork trip appeared first on Scottish Rugby News from The Offside Line.