Krasny Yar Krasnoyarsk’s victory over Challenge Cup holders Stade Francais was the shock of the opening weekend of European competition, but it is a result that has ensured that there is no danger of any complacency when Edinburgh follow the French club to Russia this weekend.
Admittedly the attitude of French clubs to playing in Europe has always been erratic and there is a sense that top clubs are treating the Challenge Cup in a similar way to the approach of English football’s Premier League giants to their League Cup, looking at fringe players while withholding their leading men at this stage as they prioritise their domestic leagues. Several international players have not even been registered for the pool stages.
Even so, Krasny Yar’s victory was the most surprising European debut since, in Millennium year, Italy introduced themselves to the Six Nations Championship by beating Scotland in their opening match and it is a result that has earned them attention, as Edinburgh prop Darryl Marfo acknowledged this week.
“I was quite surprised because to be totally honesty with you I’d say it’s not a team I massively follow their results. I can’t say I’m a big fan of the Russian rugby league,” he said, grinning broadly at the notion. “With them in our pool I did have a look at the result and you say ‘well, they’ve done the job against Stade Francais’, Whether that’s in France or in Russia to beat a team of their calibre is an excellent result for them. Then when you see what they produced on the footage, it makes you sit up a bit more.”
While no team would ever admit to complacency ahead of a match Edinburgh have been known to under-estimate opponents, as evidenced already this season when they let Treviso claim a rare away win so that result seemed timely.
“”It has given us a bit more of a head’s up. As I said, I was surprised by the result. I can’t speak to Stade Francais. For us at Edinburgh we don’t take anyone lightly,” Marfo insisted, however. “We really do approach every single game looking to out our stamp of authority on it. You do have to be aware of the opposition but we focus largely on what we put out on the pitch. We got caught on the hop by Treviso didn’t we? After that we’re not going to take anyone lightly.”
He also reported that the mood at Edinburgh is upbeat in spite of the latest off-field shenanigans that sees club captain Magnus Bradbury excluded from the camp as the circumstances surrounding a head knock suffered on a night out are investigated. For the rest of the squad there is no reason why that should not be so after they made the ideal start to their European campaign at London Irish next weekend to now find themselves targeting a second away win that would put them in full control of their pool. There is also natural excitement at heading to relatively uncharted terrain.
“Everyone in the squad is chuffed to be involved with a match of this kind,” said Marfo. “It’s unusual for rugby players from this part of Europe to go over and play a match in Russia. There is a lot of positivity around the club this week from last weekend’s result. Everyone is champing at the bit to get cracking into another game.”
Since Krasny Yar’s victory was very much a forward-oriented business, Marfo is expecting to have a major role to play.
“The challenge will come up front for me and that’s my duty to take that head on,” he acknowledged. “They definitely like to have a crack in the scrum. They are a big, heavy bunch of guys. They like that wrestle and don’t mind bashing down the door over and over again. If you’re a bit passive or a bit off for a second and give them space they’ll have three or four guys running up a channel. That’s how they got their tries on the weekend. We are under no illusions and they are the things we have worked on this week.”
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