Edinburgh dispel backwards step notion as Darcy Graham update boosts them after 'gut-wrenching' start

The defeat in Parma meant Edinburgh have failed to beat the United Rugby Championship’s traditionally weakest team three times in a row. Saturday’s 31-28 reverse was all the more galling because the visitors were playing against 14 men for 30 minutes and twice retrieved a 14-point deficit before losing to a last-gasp Martin Roger Farias penalty.

No panic buttons are being pressed yet but Edinburgh’s coaching staff know they need to iron out the defensive flaws that saw them concede four tries.

“We made some uncharacteristic errors I would say and it's always gut-wrenching after a pre-season where we really felt we're in a good place,” said Scott Mathie, the club’s attack and backs coach. “There's some really good stuff that we're doing. So, disappointing but this team is a team that has faced that type of adversity [before], they've been really resilient and they've shown that we can bounce back.”

Edinburgh are making progress, insists coach

The problem for Edinburgh is that Saturday seemed like a backwards step. Having also made a poor start last year, they came back strongly in the second half of the campaign to reach the URC play-offs. The hope was that the momentum would continue into the new season.

Mathie believes the Zebre result can be a blip and insists the team is making progress.

"Oh, massively,” he said. “I definitely feel that and I think it's a collective feel around our training in pre-season.

“I think we pride ourselves on our defence and I think we just made some uncharacteristic errors which allowed them to inroads into us. But there has been progress made. We have a tight group here that has gone through a lot and has come out the other side.”

Ulster, who beat the Dragons at home 42-21 on Friday, will be another tough test but Edinburgh should be boosted by the availability of Graham. The prolific winger has not played since injuring his ankle on his British and Irish Lions debut against the First Nations & Pasifika XV in Melbourne on July 22.

Good news on Graham, concern over prop

“Darcy Graham is in full training and seeing him buzzing around the field is great,” said Mathie. “He's available for selection.”

A decision on the fitness of stand-offs Ross Thompson and Cammy Scott will be taken later in the week. They missed the Zebre game with toe and hamstring injuries, respectively. There is also slight concern around Paul Hill who picked up a calf strain in Parma. “He should be all right,” said Mathie. “We're just waiting to see. It’s just a minor one, we expect it to be short term.”

Edinburgh lost 31-19 to Ulster in a friendly in Belfast just over a fortnight ago and beat them convincingly 47-17 at home in the final regular game of last season so the teams are well acquainted

“We definitely got a good look at each other,” said Mathie of the pre-season game. “So, there's some things there that we've seen. We also played them in the last game of last season so I think it works both ways, but there's definitely a lot that we've taken notice of.”