Rob Robertson: Edinburgh's collapse was embarrassing in Treviso

“Benetton put us under pressure and we didn’t handle the pressure well,’’ was the reaction from Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt after their humiliating 31-6 defeat to Benetton.

For a head coach to accuse a team that includes two British and Irish Lions - Ali Price and Duhan van der Merwe - plus former Scotland captains Grant Gilchrist and Jamie Ritchie of not being able to cope with pressure is bewildering.

Van der Merwe, Gilchrist and Ritchie all started in Scotland’s 2023 Six Nations Calcutta Cup win in front of 81,545 fans at Twickenham yet according to Everitt they went to pieces in front of 5,000 fans in Treviso? Something is going badly wrong mentally in the dressing room if that is the case. A sports psychologist needs to be brought in ASAP. 

I accept that wingers Darcy Graham and Emiliano Boffelli have missed most of the season through injury but the question remains why Edinburgh -a team with van der Merwe in it- struggle to score tries?

It is a decade since the then SRU chief executive Mark Dodson declared Edinburgh ‘a basket case’ and although they are not as bad as they were then the club is not in a good place.

If you are an Edinburgh fan and clutching at straws you could do worse than take inspiration from Glasgow Warriors. They have gone from strength to strength after one of their worst ever performances and make no mistake, the way Edinburgh played against Benetton was one of the poorest ever displays in the history of the club.

Glasgow’s horror show came in their 43-19 European Challenge Cup final defeat to Toulon thirteen months ago and turned into a defining moment for head coach Franco Smith and his players. 

The Warriors froze, bottled it, call it what you will in that European final. Edinburgh did the same in the shoot-out to make the URC play-offs against Benetton. Smith hasn’t let his team play so badly since. Everitt, if he keeps his job and gets his act together, has to do the same.

One of the reasons the Warriors has nothing to fear from Stormers at Scotstoun in the quarter-finals or even Munster or Ospreys in the semis is because of the lessons they learned from their non-performance in that European final.

Smith may come across as a calm character but I have never seen him so touchy as he was after the loss to Toulon. Here was a man who had regrets. He may have felt his team selection had been poor and contributed to the heavy defeat.

Leaving try scoring hooker Johnny Matthews, the experienced second row Richie Gray and openside Rory Darge on the bench with a view to them coming on to finish off Toulon backfired badly.

He hasn’t started with a weakened side in a big game since and will play his strongest team from the start in all their play-off matches. 

The Glasgow head coach was badly let down by the players he put his faith in to start against Toulon as to a man they all froze on the big stage and were behind 21-0 at half-time. Fourteen of the 23 match day squad that day - 10 of the starting XV and four off the bench - are still at the club.

There are still enough angry young men inside the Glasgow dressing room who want to make up for that aberration and where better for them to do that than in the URC play-offs?

Interestingly Everitt, unprompted, said there was a ‘mixture of frustration and anger’ among his Edinburgh players in the dressing room after the defeat to Benetton. That is a good thing and hopefully they will remain angry enough to ensure they never play as badly as they did in Treviso when they come back from their holidays.

READ MORE: 'Frustration and anger' from Edinburgh players as Sean Everitt rues attacking errors

Time-off is something Glasgow Warriors players won’t be having for at least a fortnight and they will go into the quarter-final against Stormers at Scotstoun next Saturday evening with lots of confidence. 

They may not have been at their best against Zebre at the weekend but still won 38-26 and ran in six tries in the process. They have the ability to go up a gear in the URC play-offs.

They have a top class starting fifteen with Kyle Steyn emerging as an inspirational captain. British and Irish Lions Richie Gray and Zander Fagerson have a strong presence both on and off the field. Rory Darge is one of the best back row players in the URC. Second row Scott Cummings is a tireless worker.

George Horne - the third highest Glasgow try scorer ever with 45 - is far and away first choice scrum-half and arguably the best number nine in the league. The top try scorer in the URC isn’t a flying winger but Glasgow hooker Johnny Matthews who has 14 touchdowns. 

The only concern is at fly-half just as it was in the European Challenge Cup final last year when Argentine international Domingo Miotti started against Toulon and made no impression whatsoever. You do fear where the spark will come from to allow Glasgow to release their exciting first choice back division.

They have a game changing centre partnership of Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu that on their day can slice open any defence. The Scotland international pairing need to get their hands on the ball as often as possible and Smith will be demanding his fly-halves Tom Jordan and Duncan Weir to play a running game.

Unfortunately that style of play doesn’t come naturally to either of them. First choice ten Jordan is solid rather than spectacular with his understudy Weir more a kicking than running ten.

Whoever starts at fly-half in the play-offs must take a few risks and throw the ball around so the Glasgow back division can run in the tries needed to beat the Stormers in what is sure to be a tight match.

The Glasgow mentality - unlike Edinburgh -is strong and they can handle the pressure. They blew their big chance against Toulon in the European Challenge Cup final last year and learned from that so don’t expect them to put in any under-par performances in the league play-offs. It will take a very good team to beat them.