CONNOR Boyle was in outstanding form for Edinburgh on Friday night as they beat Pau 54-5 in the Challenge Cup, and head coach Mike Blair is confident that the openside flanker can keep on getting better for some time to come.
The 22-year-old Boyle has been overshadowed this season by Rory Darge, his former team-mate at Edinburgh, who has made his Scotland debut since moving to Glasgow last year. But Blair is sure that the only real difference between the two back-row forwards is the fact that Darge was given earlier exposure to senior rugby.
“We know what Rory Darge has gone on to do,” Blair said after seeing Boyle score two of his side's eight tries in the Pool C match. “There is real belief at the club that Connor can go and do similar things.
“He probably took longer to bed himself into it, but we have certainly seen in this period what Connor can bring to the team. He has been outstanding over this whole period. He has really stood up.
“Rory got a run of games earlier than Connor got,” the coach added. “You have to remember here we have Luke Crosbie who can play seven, Hamish Watson who plays seven, and Jamie Ritchie who plays seven. It is a difficult position to break into.
“Then we had Rory and Connor as well. They have got to bide their time. Rory went straight in and played games at Glasgow and showed there what he can do - and likewise Connor has shown what he can do after a run of games.”
While Darge felt he had to head west to better himself, Boyle believes he owes a debt of thanks to Edinburgh. “It’s nice to see Rory doing so well as we are good friends, but I’m trying to just focus on myself and play well for this club,” he said.
“They have stuck by me and I have some stuff to pay back. It’s amazing what he has done in a short period of time, but I will be just focusing on this squad and the games coming.”
Last night Edinburgh were waiting to learn if, as expected, they will play Bath at home in the last 16 next weekend. The Warriors are also in the knockout stages after dropping down from the Champions Cup, and they look most likely to be drawn against Newcastle. Dates, kick-off times and TV details for the eight ties should be announced today or tomorrow.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here