EDINBURGH captain Jamie Ritchie is confident that the team can build on last weekend’s promising performance at Saracens when they face Castres on Saturday in their first home game in the Champions Cup for two years. Ritchie’s side lost 30-26 at the StoneX Stadium, but the 26-year-old is sure that they can quickly rectify the glitches in their game that proved costly.
“Overall, we’re pretty happy – it was a consistent enough performance for 80 minutes,” he said. “There were bits there we would want to improve on, but that’s the same in every game.
“We had a really positive meeting about those bits. Most of it is in our control. Around the lineout there were two call errors – one we didn’t hear and one where we just got it wrong.
“I’m confident we can take the learnings from that and they are quite easy fixes. It is something to build on.
“Coming out of the URC and getting into Europe is a bit of a change of dynamic. Everyone’s buzzing about being back up at the top table in Europe. It doesn’t take too much to motivate them. It will certainly be a physical challenge, but one we are looking forward to.”
Ritchie has had a fairly demanding season so far after being named skipper of both Edinburgh and then Scotland in quick succession, and with two young children, life at home for the back-row forward can be fairly hectic too. However, he is confident that a short break after the Autumn Nations Series has left him feeling refreshed – and is also sure that if he does need to relax over the coming months, he has found the ideal way to do so.
“I got the week off after the autumn, which was a chance to switch off physically, so the body feels OK. The mind is pretty buzzing.
“I’m quite good at switching off. I’ve been doing this for a wee while now.
“I have certain things I like to do that help me to get away from it – getting home is a natural one for that, because you don’t have time to think about anything else. My wife is great at letting me have some time if I need it.
“There’s a company near Edinburgh Airport called Float Philosophy that I like to get down to. I use the float pods there and take an hour. You listen to music for the first 10 minutes and then it switches off and you’re in there for an hour.”
