Once again, the Scottish rugby community will be denied any further active part in the latter stages of the two European competitions - the Heineken Cup and the Amlin Cup. Despite an excellent win at Murrayfield on Saturday against Stade Francais, Edinburgh could only finish third in their pool as Ulster delivered a stunning victory at Bath to take second place behind the Frenchmen.
There is no doubt that Edinburgh were the better side, dominating possession and position for large sections of the game. But their coaching staff must be very worried about the inability of their backs to show enough cutting edge and precision to score tries. In fact, Edinburgh have scored the least number of points of all the teams in the pool stages, 64, with only three tries.
Their forward play, however, was excellent with Jim Hamilton using his bulk to good effect with the ball in hand and Geoff Cross, who has been dropped from the Scotland squad, playing like a man possessed. Roddy Grant continues to impress especially with his strength off the back of the scrum and, although not too tall, he was used effectively as a supplementary jumper in the lineout.
Glasgow could also only finish third in their pool, after a very disappointing second half display at Biarritz which led to their eventual 41-20 defeat. As Magners League leaders, we should have expected more from them and two wins out of six is just not good enough, especially when you consider that Biarritz started with a makeshift team.
Glasgow scored two excellent tries one in each half and were leading 20-11 after 50 minutes. However two replacements, one for each team, turned the game on its head. Biarritz introduced their best scrummager Campbell Johnstone at tight head and Glasgow replaced their best loosehead, Jon Welsh, not long afterwards and the result was precipitous.
Glasgow just fell to pieces and were in complete disarray at the finish, conceding two late tries from scrums. The result showed quite clearly that Glasgow's oft quoted strength in depth, particularly in the front row, is greatly overstated.
With the confirmation that Kelly Brown is leaving at the end of the season, plus the news that Mike Blair may be going across the sea to Ulster, it begs the question whether Scottish teams are serious about trying to reach the final stages of the Heineken Cup. My own view is that, to do so, both Edinburgh and Glasgow have to retain their best players and still have to recruit some foreign players in key positions. That's what Munster and Leinster have done and both have been very successful.
