Hello Darkness My Old Friend...

A CAST OF THOUSANDS: Before the misery, some joy. Thank you so much to the thousands of you who read, subscribed and shared last weeks newsletter. We are very happy our ramblings are finding a happy home. If you are enjoying this, subscribe below or share with a friend. Now, onto business.

IS THAT YOU SCOTLAND?: It’s been a tough weekend for anyone with an interest in Scottish Rugby. When Chris ‘The Sweet Prince’ Dean dotted down in the 57th minute we have to admit that Thistle HQ thought the tie was over. Cans of Tennnets were raised and 10 Blue WKD’s from Fingers piano bar were put on pre-order. 23 minutes later, Willemse stuck out a flailing hand, Madigan slotted the posts and Fingers was shut down for the foreseeable future. There was a hypothesis that Cockers had injected a steeliness that ran through the very fabric of this Edinburgh squad, the antithesis of our national team which would ultimately lay the foundation for broader Scottish success.

The last quarter proved this hypothesis incorrect. During the last 20 mins there was a dearth of leadership across the park and as the momentum swung towards the Ulster men, there was a creeping dread that we’d seen this story before. Ulster had the bounce of the ball in the closing stages but Edinburgh were given opportunities to take back control of the narrative and failed to do so. The Kick Off after Chris Dean’s try was the key moment of the match - Edinburgh failed to gather the ball and Ulster had scored in the corner 3 minutes later. Someone at the SRU needs to be given the sole task of improving restarts in Scottish Rugby, too many times have Scotland/Edinburgh/Glasgow failed to gather a restart in key moments

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING PYRGOS: He’s had his doubters over the last few years, including us, but I was left wishing Henry Pyrgos was on that pitch for the last 20 mins - during several big games for Edinburgh he’s been a clear leader and is a player who knows how and where to play the game. Once the final whistle sounded, I think its fair to say that all Edinburgh fans had the same initial thought

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES: Whilst Edinburgh should have closed out the match; they should never have been in such a precarious position in the first place. Too many opportunities were left out on the field with Duhan, Dean and Bennett all falling to find the final pass. At certain points Ulster appeared to be on the ropes struggling to keep up with the power and pace of an Edinburgh team who gained more meters, had more clean breaks and beat more defenders. Cockerill summed it up well in the post match interview, “Credit to them but that was all of our own making”

IS COCKERS THE REAL DEAL?: There was three key stats we were focused on at half time:

1. Ulster haven’t come back from a half time deficit all season

2. Edinburgh under Cockerill have won 29 out of 32 matches at Murrayfield

3. Edinburgh have only conceded a total of 15 second half points in their last 6 outings

We were focused on the wrong stats. Not only do Ulster make up two of those three losses but as Mark Palmer noted in his Times column yesterday morning Edinburgh had lost all three of their previous knockout matches since Cockerill took charge in 2017

• 2018 European Challenge Cup QF vs Cardiff: 6 - 20

• 2018 Pro 14 Quarter Final vs Munster: 16 - 20

• 2019 European Champions Cup QF vs Munster: 13 - 17

Edinburgh still have the Challenge Cup and they face Bordeaux (thankfully without Semi Radradra) in two weeks - it’s time for Edinburgh to deliver on their potential and take home their first ever piece of silverware.

STAR PERFORMERS: Hamish Watson was our MoM with some stand out moments and killer stats (see below) - see the full highlights from the match here and wait till 1.35 to see Mish in barnstorming form

• 3 Defenders Beaten

• 2 Offloads

• 2 Turnovers

• 13 Tackles

Duhan van der McMerwe was on scintillating form in the 1st half and showed us why we’re all so excited to see him don the Blue and White (and gold?) in the Autumn - Andy Burke had a great stat that showed how his influence waned in the second forty

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SOMETHING LIGHTER: Brand Cockers is very much a hybrid of ‘banter’ and not really giving a f**k and in true King Cockers fashion he came out with a fantastic sounbdite during the weekly press run. When asked to comment on Fraser Brown’s comments on Edinburgh scrum penalties during last weeks 1872 cup match, Cockerill piped back "Fraser Brown can think what he wants. He's on holiday”. As always, Graham Love was ready with the meme all Edinburgh fans wanted to see.

INTER-DISTRICT RUGBY: With spirit of the New Zealand North vs South match running through us we created a potential Glasgow & South vs Edinburgh, North & Midlands game - we have categorised players based on where they grew up (before any challenges, Huw Jones was born in Edinburgh and Fraser Brown grew up near Biggar)

We’re backing Edinburgh, North & Midlands to take home the bacon but let us know what you think the outcome would be? would there be any interest in this sort of match? who have we inevitably missed?

PAY CUTS: Scotland's rugby players have agreed a pay cut - although the statement works very hard to avoid saying so. Reading the runes, "certain revenue streams" seems likely to be linked to matches with significant crowds at Murrayfield going ahead.

CHAMPIONS CUP: The EPRC announced a new European rugby format for the 20/21 season that literally no one could understand - but the Thistle has sat down and we believe we’ve cracked European Club Rugbys version of enigma

Next season’s European Champions Cup (which will include both Edinburgh and Glasgow) will have:

• 24 teams, an increase of four teams

• 4 pool matches, home and away quarter finals and one match semi finals and final

• The top 4 in each Pro 14 conference will qualify (excluding SA teams)

• Edinburgh and Glasgow will then be placed into one of four tiers based on this years Pro 14 performance

• Pro 14 have clarified that Edinburgh will fall into Tier 2 due to losing last weekends semi final (even though they topped the conference) and Glasgow will be in tier 4 due to having the seventh highest points total across the two conferences (even though they came third in their conference) - this system has proved unfavourable to the Scots

• Clubs will be split into two groups of 12, and will play four games against clubs in the same pools but not from their own league - tier one clubs will face tier four in the same pool and clubs in tier two will face clubs in tier three in the same pool (but not clubs from the same league)

• Therefore Glasgow (Tier 4) have a high chance of facing Exeter (almost certainly Tier 1)

  

FUZZY FLATBREAD: We thought we’d take a look at the best of Scottish rugby lockdown content. Do you like Turkey flatbread? Yes Do you like Chris Fusaro? Obviously. Do you like unnecessarily large cooking oil glassware? Who doesn’t - then we have the content for you : Chris Fusaro aka Fuzzy Bear takes you on a step by step guide of how to make Turkey Flatbread - enjoy here

SCOTS ABROAD WRAP UP:

• Northampton Saints continue to have a mild shocker post Corona but Rory Hutchinson continues to be the Rory Hutchinson we’ve all come to know and love - after getting the Telegraph team of the week last Sunday, go to 3.14 to see him carving up the Chiefs (Sam Skinner to be exact) in the lead up to a Saints try. If Hutchinson can keep up his form Thistle HQ expects we might see a Johnson/Hutchinson combo in the centres come November - link that up with Russell at 10 and a Graham/Duhan/Hogg back three axis and you’ve got yourself a pretty tasty back division

• In the same match it was great to see Sam Hidalgo Clyne continue his great run of form. With a man of the match performance last week and an assured performance in a tough match this Friday, does SHC have a chance of donning the Thistle in the Autumn?

• The New Zealand North vs South game just might have been best match of the year so far and Scotland had potential representation in the form of flame haired scrummie Finley Christie. He’s had a great season with the Blues and will looking to defend the Mitre 10 cup with Tasman in a few weeks. He has previously added a Scotland flag to his Instagram bio in what some people have perceived as a metaphorical lighting of the beacons to the SRU - we will keep our eyes peeled

• Friend of the pod Gary Heatly spied that Robin Hislop, current Doncaster prop and former Lagholm native/Scotland under 20 representative has joined Sarries on loan for the rest of the season

• Finn Russell doted down for a try in a 27 - 23 away win at Lyon - The Russell and Beale 10/15 axis has the potential to blow up the Top 14

• Great to see Maitland, Swinson and Hunter-Hill all getting a run out for Saracens

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