URC: Ross McCann insists Edinburgh still have belief despite Zebre debacle

Yesterday at 05:00 PM

A RUN of fixtures that might once have appeared benign has taken on a more ominous look for Edinburgh after their home defeat by Zebre last time out. Of the capital club’s last seven games of the regular URC season, beginning with Friday’s trip to Munster, three are against the league's three bottom clubs, while none are against the top three.

Edinburgh currently lie ninth, just two points outside of the play-off places, so that sequence of games would perhaps suggest that they will get into the top eight with something to spare. But after that embarrassing loss to Zebre, who remain second bottom of the 16-team table, neither Sean Everitt's squad nor their supporters can take anything for granted.

Given the talent at head coach Everitt’s disposal, it is a perplexing position for the capital club to be in. And, while the fans have begun to voice their frustration more loudly in recent weeks, winger Ross McCann, for one, insists that the players feel just as frustrated as the paying customers.

Arnold Clark Men's Premiership Round 18 Dream Team

URC: Edinburgh set to welcome back Scotland squad members for Munster trip

6N: Six takeaways from round three of the 2025 Six Nations

McCann knows that Edinburgh have made things hard for themselves this season, and he is well aware that the upcoming game in Cork will be a demanding one. But, while accepting that his team have been unable to play at the top of their game as regularly as they would have liked, he is confident that their self-belief remains unshaken by the Zebre debacle.

"It's exciting, isn't it?,” McCann said after training on Monday as he looked ahead to the Munster match. “It's tough, but you wouldn't want it any other way, would you, really?

"You want to be playing in tough games, you want to be going into hostile environments, because they're the memories you make. And with the group we have here, we have the belief that we can do it.

"It's just that consistency that we've lacked a bit this year. We've never lacked the consistency of belief: it's the consistency of performance that we've really lacked.”

After Munster, Edinburgh play Benetton away, Dragons and Sharks at home, Zebre away and then Connacht and Ulster at home in the URC. If they put their minds to it, they are capable of beating any of those sides. But by the same token, they are just as capable of underperforming. 

"I think the frustration comes more from the lack of consistency that we've had this year,” McCann accepted. “Look at games that we've had like Vannes away [in the Challenge Cup] when we were running in tries from 60 metres out. We've done that inconsistently throughout the year as well, and I think that's where most of the frustration, for us especially, comes from. 

"And you can feel that with the fans as well. We're in the same boat as them, and the frustration is there for us as well, but all we can do now is learn what we can from that. But we still have the belief that we can go on and do what we want to do this year as well, for the rest of the year."

McCann certainly does not lack the motivation to prove himself in the coming games. With Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham away on Scotland duty, he aims to force himself into more regular contention for a place in the matchday squad. "It's about when you get your opportunity, showing that you can do it and that it's always an option,” he said of his attitude. “The best thing that I heard – I can't remember who said it – is that the only thing you can do is put yourself in the position where they have to make a decision to not select you – and give you a reason for that as well.      

"And I feel that's what we're getting and we're growing in this group as well, is that competitive nature where consistently they're having to make choices between players. And that can only be better for the group when everyone is on a competitive level where you can do that and you have to make those decisions as well.

"I know the standard that Duhan and Darcy are at – they're two of the best wingers in the world. The only thing I can do is keep pushing myself and keep putting my hand up, and when I get the opportunity, take it.

"But opportunities are hard. What was it Chris Coleman said when he was at Sunderland? 'Opportunities are hard – that's why not everyone takes them'.

"And that's the thing as well – you've got to take those opportunities when they're there. We now have the opportunity as well with the Munster game to bounce back from the last result and hopefully we'll go out and take that."

URC: Edinburgh set to welcome back Scotland squad members for Munster trip

The post URC: Ross McCann insists Edinburgh still have belief despite Zebre debacle appeared first on Scottish Rugby News from The Offside Line.