Edinburgh Rugby 'a million miles' away in URC as contrast with Glasgow Warriors questioned

A 33-14 defeat by Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday was Edinburgh's 10th loss in 14 league matches and has effectively ended their hopes of making the play-offs as they sit 17 points behind the top eight with four games left.

In contrast, Glasgow's 31-10 victory over Benetton at Scotstoun on Friday was their 11th win of the season, and keeps them top of the table, four points ahead of Stormers, and 32 points better off than their Scottish rivals.

While Edinburgh put in a better performance than the 54-17 defeat to Lions in Johannesburg the previous week - they led Stormers with 20 minutes remaining with the highlight being a stunning try from James Lang who ran the full length of the pitch to score following an intercept - they return from a fortnight in South Africa without even the consolation of a single losing bonus point.

Edinburgh's season now rests on causing a major upset in the Champions Cup when they travel to face Leinster in the last 16 in Dublin on Sunday. Former Ireland international Stephen Ferris reckons that would be the biggest shock in the history of the tournament after analysing the defeat by Stormers for Premier Sports.

"Did Edinburgh deserve a point out of the game? Possibly, for the effort that they put in," he said. "But they are still a million miles away from the top teams in the URC. They really are. Their race is run now for a top eight spot. They are going to have to lick their wounds and get over to Dublin and see if they can cause probably the biggest upset in Champions Cup history."

Former England international Andy Goode agreed with his fellow pundit.

"It's been an awful couple of weeks in South Africa," he said. "Today they showed a bit more heart. But the URC season is done and they've got one shot at salvaging something going to Leinster, which we all know, in knockout rugby in the Champions Cup, it's only Northampton that go there and win."

Edinburgh's poor form has prompted criticism in some quarters of the decision to give head coach Sean Everitt a contract extension in January. But Goode reckons the issues could run deeper.

"It's not just that contract, but the recruitment of the players as well," he said, "Put a Glasgow squad on paper, and put an Edinburgh squad on paper, and they spend not too dissimilar amounts, and you've got a complete disparity between the quality there. Who's doing the contract negotiations for the players, who's involved in the recruitment? Is it the SRU, is it people in Edinburgh? It's just not good enough if you are an Edinburgh fan."

Ferris suggested that Everitt also has to shoulder the blame. He stated: "They don't look like they are comfortable with ball in hand, they don't have any options when they do have the ball, people are running around looking like they are not sure what structure they should be playing to. That's a coach. You can put as much blame on the players as you want but you've got to have something to play to. At the minute it feels like they don't."