'We needed to be better' admits Edinburgh's defence guru

Edinburgh secured a losing bonus point after Matt Scott crossed the late on for their fifth try to compliment their bonus point for scoring four tries but a litany of mistakes proved costly.

The capital side are in South Africa for a double-header in the Southern Hemisphere and defence coach Todd has admitted Edinburgh will need to be more resolute. 

When asked if there was an imbalance between Edinburgh’s defence and attack, Todd replied: “I wouldn’t say there was an imbalance. Obviously there was a big focus and staff changes but we needed to be better on defence.

"There were a few new faces and it’s probably on me that there were a few errors.

“Leinster played a very good game around the territory and their kicking game. They kept putting us back but we kept them out  for a while.

"Something is always going to give when a team is defending that deep for that long. Jamison Gibson Park controlled the game really well and he’s a world-class scrum-half.” 

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“We’ve been working hard on finishing our attacks. We had five tries at the weekend, which was a good improvement but we need to shore up in defence. It was good to get our start going and we have a good reference point on where we need to improve.”

Edinburgh’s face a daunting encounter against the Bulls on Saturday afternoon with the South Africans still hurting after losing on home soil to Glasgow Warriors in the URC final last season. 

Edinburgh have a good record against the Bulls and they will be missing several international stars with the Springboks facing Argentina this weekend but Todd is under no illusions of the enormity of the task ahead. 

Bulls wing Kurt-Lee Arendse is on Springboks duty this weekend (Image: PA) “I don’t know who is missing but they’ve got a very deep and strong squad,” Todd added.

“We can’t take anything away from them there and we still massively respect what is coming. Anyone knows that playing the Bulls away is tough but it probably is a good time to get them. Everyone will step up and it will be a tough battle.

“Anyone playing the Bulls at Loftus does well to have a good game and win. We will have to stop a big pack coming at us and they’ve got some big backs too. There’s no secrets over their physicality and we know what is coming so we need to put our best foot forward.”