Everitt proud of ‘great win’

• 12 Nov 2023
• Reactions

Senior Coach Sean Everitt was left feeling proud of his side’s resilience as Edinburgh Rugby battled to claim a last-gasp victory against Connacht at Hive Stadium on Saturday night.

With the game tied-up at 22-22, the capital side worked the ball into Connacht territory where Ben Healy was able to chip over a no-nonsense drop-goal to take all four points with the clock in red.

The victory is Edinburgh Rugby’s third in four matches, and leaves Everitt’s side sitting in 8^th place in the BKT United Rugby Championship on 12 points, just three points behind league-leaders Vodacom Bulls – the next visitors to Hive Stadium this Friday night (17 November, kick-off 7.35pm).

“I’m delighted with the win,” said Everitt. “We were outstanding tonight defensively despite leaking the three tries. The group needs to understand that they need to exit well after scoring points and that’s not something that we did well tonight.

“All three tries were conceded after we failed to get out of our half after kick-off. But in saying that, the guys were really resilient and I’m very proud of the boys.

Everitt continued: “I think it’s just a great win for us, because this team now believe they can win in tight situations against top teams.”

Replacement Ben Vellacott was named BKT United Rugby Championship Player of the Match on the night – just reward for a hugely influential 39-minute cameo from the bench that saw the scrum-half score one, assist one and set-up Healy for the match-winning drop-goal.

On Vellacott’s contribution, Everitt said: “Ben was made captain for a reason – he leads by example. Coming onto the field as a substitute and pulling that off says something about the confidence that he brings to the team.

“He was just outstanding tonight in every department, so I’m very happy for him. Unfortunately he missed last week – I think he wanted to prove a point tonight. And with Ali Price arriving there’s great competition for the No 9 jersey now.”