Blair delighted how Edinburgh ‘found a way’ against Castres

December 19, 2022
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Ultimate Rugby

Edinburgh Rugby head coach Mike Blair praised his side for breaking down Castres Olympique in Round 2 of the Heineken Champion Cup despite struggling to produce their best rugby.

The Scottish region triumphed 31-20 at DAM Health Stadium on Saturday, clinching the bonus point and a vital first victory in Pool A.

Castres enjoyed long spells of possession as Edinburgh lacked accuracy, but Blair was pleased with how his team kept plugging away and put enough points on the board to win the game.

“Castres put a lot of pressure on us and we did well to come out with the five points,” he said.

“Today was just one of those days when the ball just wasn’t sticking. We could’ve had a couple of tries in the first half but the ball just didn’t stick.

“That’s frustrating but sometimes when you try to play rugby you’ve got to accept there will be errors in there and we still got the five points.

HIGHLIGHTS: @edinburghrugby win a quality contest with @castresrugby to record their first victory of the season in Pool A 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿#HeinekenChampionsCup

— Heineken Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) December 17, 2022

“We found a way to win. We came across some adversity just before half-time, but to not concede in those minutes was really good and meant we could go into the changing room with our chests out after playing into a tough wind and being a point up.”

Despite handing Castres their second successive defeat to leave them bottom of Pool A, Blair was keen to highlight the TOP 14 side’s strengths.

“I was really impressed with them,” he added. “They’ve got size, they’ve got cohesion, and they don’t do a huge amount of special things as a team – but they stick in there.

“And their set-piece was good, so that put pressure on us, especially in the first half when the breeze was against us.”