It did not take long for Steve Diamond to decide that Edinburgh would need to rediscover a more hard-edged attitude to games if they were to snap out of their losing run.
Nor did it take long for the players to respond to that message, according to the new “lead rugby consultant”.
Speaking yesterday for the first time since his appointment this month as senior adviser to head coach Mike Blair, Diamond revealed that the squad had taken his message to heart to the extent that a fight had broken out at training this week.
And, while he insisted that he would not want such events to occur too frequently, the former Sale and Worcester boss made it plain that the new-found competitive approach is precisely what will be required in tonight’s Champions Cup last-16 tie at Leicester Tigers.
“I think the boys need to be harder on each other,” Diamond said. “I think we’re a little bit too nice.
“I’ve had that conversation with the squad this week, and it resulted in a fight at training – which is what we want sometimes. You don’t want it all the time, but coming into big games like this you’ve got to be ready for it mentally.
“I think we’ve got a great set of lads, but we just need to be a little bit more hardcore in the right areas.”
Who was fighting?
“That cannot be told!” he replied. “I think I got the blame for it.”
If Edinburgh do upset the odds in the one-off tie against the English champions, Diamond will likely get a fair amount of credit for it. Having been given his position for the rest of the season in the wake of Blair’s announcement that he was to stand down at the end of this campaign, the Englishman is not at present in the running to take over as head coach next season.
However, when asked to explain how his appointment had come about and whether he hoped to make the job a longer-term commitment, he was careful to say only that did not want to be considered an applicant right now.
“The process was simple,” he said. “I saw that Mike was in a little bit of distress, as in not anybody to help him, and I threw my hat in the ring. [I] just said ‘Look, if you need somebody to assist, I’ve got a wealth of knowledge and we’ll see where we go with it’.
“So I’m here till the end of the season. I help him in team meetings, I look over training. He’s a very good up-and-coming coach. I think he just needs a bit of help.
“At the minute, the senior recruiters in the SRU and Edinburgh are looking for a new head coach and I’m going to assist them with that.
“I’ll do a warts-and-all report on where I think it can improve and what’s good and what’s very good – and quite a lot of those things are, if I’m honest.
“And then see where it stands in July, really. Meanwhile, if the powers that be want me to do due diligence on coaching, then I’ll do that.”
So would he consider applying himself?
“No, I don’t want to do that at this moment in time if I’m perfectly honest. I think it could create a little bit more anxiety in the place, and that’s the last thing I want to do.
“I want to give people confidence because what the team actually lack is confidence.”
With Duhan van der Merwe, Pierre Schoeman, Jamie Ritchie and Hamish Watson all back in the starting line-up, Edinburgh have their strongest possible team out tonight.
Even so, Diamond has warned them that they will have to be right at the top of their game if they are to claim a place in the quarter-finals, where they would meet either Leinster away or Ulster at home.
“I’ve been going to Leicester for 30 years and only won three times, I think. It’s a difficult place to go.
A good performance isn’t going to be enough. It needs to be exceptional.”
Edinburgh Rugby (at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, tonight 8pm): E Boffelli; D Graham, M Bennett, J Lang, D van der Merwe; B Kinghorn, H Pyrgos; P Schoeman, S McInally, W Nel, S Skinner, G Gilchrist (co-captain), J Ritchie (co-captain), H Watson, V Mata. Substitutes: D Cherry, B Venter, L de Bruin, M Sykes, L Crosbie, B Vellacott, C Hutchison, D Hoyland.
Leicester Tigers: F Steward; A Watson, G Porter, J Gopperth, H Potter; H Pollard, J van Poortvliet; J Cronin, J Montoya (captain), D Cole, G Martin, C Henderson, H Liebenberg, T Reffell, O Cracknell. Substitutes: C Clare, T West, J Heyes, E Snyman, J Wiese, S Wolstenholme, C Atkinson, D Kelly.
Referee: M Raynal (France).
