'Fell apart': Sean Everitt defends team selection as Edinburgh crumble in Castres

The capital side made 11 changes to the side which beat Toulon so impressively last week and they fell apart in the second half at Stade Pierre-Fabre, conceding four unanswered tries.

Their cause wasn’t helped by a yellow card for centre Piers O’Conor and injuries to Jack Brown, Ross McCann, James Lang and Wes Goosen. Edinburgh had to adapt on the hoof and at one stage had flankers Liam McConnell and Connor Boyle playing in their backline.

With one eye on the 1872 Cup double-header with Glasgow Warriors, Everitt rested Pierre Schoeman, Duhan van der Merwe, Magnus Bradbury and Grant Gilchrist. He was also without several other Scotland internationals through injury, including Darcy Graham, Luke Crosbie, D’arcy Rae, Sam Skinner and Marshall Sykes.

Unforced errors, handling errors

Edinburgh competed well in the first half but squandered a couple of good opportunities and went in at the turn 5-0 down. They collapsed after the break but Everitt denied that he had made too many changes.

“No, I thought we did well in the first 40 minutes,” said the head coach. “We had four entries into the 22 and we were held up over the line and with a little bit more accuracy we could have been up 21-5 at half-time, but we weren't.

“And at 5-0 down at half-time, obviously, the chat in the changing room was really positive. Castres concede most of their points in the last 20 minutes, so it was about us staying in the fight.

“But unfortunately, with the disruptions we had amongst the backs, putting Liam McConnell on the wing, and getting Piers O'Conor's yellow card, we fell apart a bit with a lot of unforced errors, handling errors, which is unusual for us.”

The defeat means Edinburgh remain on five points in Pool 2 at the halfway point of the group phase, tied with Munster, Gloucester, Castres and Toulon. Bath are top on six after picking up a bonus point in their defeat by Toulon yesterday. Edinburgh will play Gloucester at home and Bath away in the new year as they seek to qualify for the knockout stage. The top four from each six-team pool go through to the round of 16.

Having recorded a statement victory over three-time winners Toulon on the opening weekend, this was a case of Edinburgh falling back down to earth with a bump. With so many changes and the selection of a number of fringe players, it was hard to escape the feeling that they didn’t give themselves the best opportunity to win this match.

It is Edinburgh's first appearance in the Champions Cup for three seasons, and qualification for the last 16 is still very much in their grasp, but this result could prove costly both in terms of the pool standings and the injury toll.

O’Conor should have given the visitors the lead as early as the seventh minute but was held up over the line. Castres took full advantage and moved ahead soon after through a fine try from Christian Ambadiang, their mighty Cameroonian winger. It came via a slick strike play off a scrum and Ambadiang powered past Brown to score.

Edinburgh gift Castres a try

It turned out to be the only points of an even first half. Brown departed early with a head injury after coming off second best trying to tackle Ambadiang but Tom Dodd went close for Edinburgh who ought to have scored during a period of pressure around the half-hour mark. The momentum was lost when McCann’s pass was intercepted by Pierre Popelin. The fly-half was a steady presence for Castres and went on to convert all four of their second-half tries.

McCann was the next Edinburgh player to depart for an HIA and Castres moved further ahead in the 47th minute, with hooker Loris Zarantonello on the end of lineout drive. The visitors gifted the hosts their next try when Ewan Ashman’s throw to a shortened lineout went over the jumpers and into the hands of the grateful Tyler Ardron for a simple score.

Things then unravelled alarmingly for Edinburgh. O’Conor was outfoxed by Popelin’s sidestep and got the tackle all wrong, making head-to-head contact with the Castres playmaker. There was no malice but a yellow card was the correct decision.

The French side scored two more tries while the centre was in the sin-bin. Adam Vargas finished off a lovely moved against a depleted Edinburgh backline and there were gaps all over the place when Vilimoni Botitu ran in the final score after good work by Vuate Karawalevu.

That made it 33-0 but there were still 17 minutes remaining. Edinburgh rallied and Hamish Watson looked to have scored after Ben Vellacott had hacked on but the try was chalked off for a knock-on by Liam McConnell in the build-up. It meant Edinburgh had been ‘nilled’ and Everitt was left to assess the injuries ahead of Saturday’s match against Glasgow at Hampden.

Brown will miss the game and McCann will have to undertake his HIA 2 test. Goosen cut his knee late on and will require stitches and Lang took a knee to the shoulder. Both players will be assessed this week.

The better news for Everitt was that Boyle and Matt Currie both came through unscathed after long absences.

Teams and scorers

Scorers: Castres Olympique: Tries: Ambadiang, Zarantonello, Ardron, Vargas, Botitu. Cons: Popelin 4.

Yellow card: P O’Conor (Edinburgh, 56min).

Castres Olympique: G Palis; C Ambadiang (V Karawalevu 55), V Botitu, J Goodhue, A Vargas; P Popelin (E Herve 63), J Fernandez (G Doubrere 55); Q Walcker (L Guerois-Galisson 56), L Zarantonello (T Durand-Pradere 55), A Azar (N Corato 56), G Maravat, T Staniforth (L Nakarawa 58), B Delaporte, T Ardron, A Papalii (B Cope 31).

Edinburgh: J Brown (W Goosen 19; Currie 77); R McCann (C Shiel 42), M Currie (J Lang h-t; C Boyle 59), P O'Conor, L Wells; C Scott, B Vellacott; B Venter (M Jones 49), H Morris (E Ashman 49), O Blyth-Lafferty (P Hill 49), C Hunter-Hill, G Young, L McConnell, F Douglas (H Watson 49), T Dodd.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Ita).