“We need to throw some punches” – Bradbury rallies Edinburgh for 1872 Cup fightback

Following a 24-12 defeat to Glasgow Warriors in the opening leg, the Edinburgh back-row is adamant that while “dogged” defence kept them in the hunt, the capital side must find their clinical edge to overturn the aggregate deficit at Scottish Gas Murrayfield.

Reflecting on an afternoon where Sean Everitt’s men were forced to tackle themselves to a standstill, Bradbury was honest about the physical toll of the encounter. “Well, look at me,” he remarked, gesturing to the marks of a high-intensity derby.

“We can commend ourselves for the fight that we had. Defensively, the tackles make sense. We held them out and nullified their attack at times, but we can’t keep doing it.”

While the defensive effort was heroic, Bradbury is under no illusions: you cannot win the oldest inter-city trophy in world rugby by tackling alone. For the Scotland international, the formula for the second leg is simple: Edinburgh must become the aggressors.

“What we can take from that is we need to work on our attack and throw some punches in attack,” Bradbury insisted. “We can’t get into their 22 then suddenly be back in our own. Any team in the world, no matter how good your ‘D’ is, is going to break at some point. Teams will work that out.”

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A major part of that offensive evolution involves unlocking Edinburgh’s strike runners. With Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham short of opportunities in the first leg, Bradbury highlighted the need to feed the “lethal” finishers in the squad.

“My immediate thoughts are they didn’t get the ball in space as regularly as they should have,” he admitted. “We want these guys to get on the ball in space, because they’re lethal. That will be a work-on for us this week, definitely.”

Despite the 12-point gap on aggregate, the mood in the camp remains defiant. Bradbury believes the quick turnaround – and the unique nature of back-to-back games against the same opponent – works in Edinburgh’s favour.

“It’s quite nice in a way, because you don’t have to switch to a completely different team to look at. Video-wise, you can look at the first leg and it’s pretty easy to transfer that into what’s going on this week. If we can throw some punches, 12 points isn’t a huge aggregate to overcome.”

If Edinburgh are to stage a comeback, they will do so backed by a massive home crowd. With ticket sales already past the 30,000 mark, the atmosphere at Scottish Gas Murrayfield is expected to be electric—a factor Bradbury believes can tip the scales.

“Home games are always special over Christmas. Last time I checked it was about 30,000 to 40,000 tickets sold. Who wouldn’t get excited about that?”

The banter on the pitch at Hampden was as sharp as the tackles, with “chirping” and mental games playing their part.

Bradbury is happy to “stow away” those moments to fuel the fire for the return leg.

“The backbone of what we’ll look at this week is the same defensive performance, that same dog and fight that we had. We’ve got to right some wrongs pretty quickly.”