Everitt: Hive Stadium must “remain a fortress” as Edinburgh prepare for Bulls battle

Having won every game played at the ground so far this season, Everitt is eager for his side to rebound from last week’s European away loss to Bath and protect their home turf.

“We’ve had good performances at home,” Everitt said. “At Hive Stadium, we haven’t been beaten yet and we know we want to make this a fortress.

“We played our best rugby and we played well against Toulon, but those games are gone now. Obviously, what happened on Friday night [against Bath] we’re not proud of as a rugby club, so we’re looking to make amends.”

Standing in their way is a formidable Vodacom Bulls side that Everitt describes as a “dangerous beast.”

While the South African side has seen coaching changes recently, Everitt knows exactly what to expect from a team that combines traditional physicality with an evolving offensive game.

“It’s a difficult team to analyse at the moment because they’ve had a change in the coaching staff and they’ve been trying to grow their attack with a new attack coach,” Everitt explained.

“They’ll come here with a different energy. They’ve got big players and they enjoy their direct rugby. What we do know is that we need to be accurate because they do pose threats for us at set-piece time as well as at the breakdown.”

The challenge is further heightened by the return of Handre Pollard, the double World Cup-winning fly-half whom Everitt has watched since his schoolboy days.

“They’ve added Handre Pollard to their armoury and he’s a world-class 10 as we know,” said Everitt.

“I watched Handre come through school level and he was a different class at that point. As a schoolboy, he played for the South African under-20 team; he showed a lot of potential there and he certainly reached that. I’m quite sure he will play on Friday night.”

Regarding the Bulls’ selection, Everitt expects a full-strength visiting side after they successfully rotated their squad during their recent trip to Pau.

“They came up into Europe with 30 of the best players that they could pick. They didn’t pick their best team against Pau on Friday night, obviously resting players after the Bristol defeat to be fresh for us in this game. I presume that they’ll go for full strength as they look to climb the ladder.”

On the injury front, Edinburgh are monitoring the fitness of hooker Ewan Ashman, who left the field during the weekend’s action with a neck issue. “Ewan’s going to go for a scan this afternoon to see how he is,” Everitt confirmed.

“He is feeling better than he did on Friday night, so it is looking promising and I hope that it is that way. He’s a really good player for us—he carries well, defends incredibly well, and has a good set-piece.

“He made a tackle and got hit in the base of his neck, so he is obviously stiff and sore, but it’s nothing that we think is too serious.”