Everitt: ‘We know we’re a better team than that’

• 18 Feb 2024
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Despite battling back to secure four points on the road, Head Coach Sean Everitt believes his Edinburgh side were fortunate to beat Zebre Parma on Friday night and challenged his side to improve standards for next month’s clash against Ospreys at Hive Stadium.

The capital showed character in a second-half fightback to claim their third road win of the season at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi but never truly hit top gear in stop-start performance.

“I think we were very fortunate. We hung in there, and the ascendancy that we got in the set piece got us the result at the end of the day,” said Everitt.

“But I’m not happy with the performance – you can’t be happy with an error-ridden performance like that. But there are some guys here who haven’t played for five weeks, some others haven’t played for three, so we were a little bit rusty.

“And also being away from home doesn’t help. But it’s no excuse. We know we’re a better team than that.

“We just lacked urgency in the first half and they beat us at the breakdown and we just couldn’t get any momentum. And when we had opportunities in the 22, we never finished.”

The victory keeps Edinburgh well in the race for a place in the BKT United Rugby Championship play-offs, having won seven out of 10 fixtures so far this campaign.

Edinburgh now prepare for the visit of Ospreys on Friday 1^st March, where another win would be massive in maintaining momentum towards a top-eight finish.

Everitt continued: “I’m proud of the character that they showed, but we know we’re better than that and the guys will be disappointed in their performance.

“Five points would have been great, but at the end of the day we’ll take the win.

“It doesn’t matter who you play, when you’re away from home you’ve got to get wins and we’ve done that. But yes, five points would have been good.”

“Credit to our guys for the composure that they showed and for coming back in a game that they were really never in for 70 minutes. Hopefully we’ve got those cobwebs out and we can put in a better performance against Ospreys.”