Stuart Bathgate

5 days ago | theoffsideline.com | Stuart Bathgate

STUART BATHGATEEDINBURGH have often been criticised for lacking a killer instinct when the going gets tough, but they showed that quality in abundance here to keep their URC play-off hopes alive.

1 week ago | theoffsideline.com | Stuart Bathgate

BETWEEN the Challenge Cup and some vital games in the URC, it feels like Edinburgh have been playing knockout rugby pretty much constantly for the past couple of months. Saturday’s match away to Connacht is sure to feel no different – fail to win, and the capital club’s hopes of making the play-offs will almost certainly be over – and assistant coach Stevie Lawrie hopes the experience of those recent pressurised fixtures will be the key to success in the west of Ireland.

1 week ago | theoffsideline.com | Stuart Bathgate

SO FAR this season, Edinburgh have shown an ability to raise their game against their best opponents, and a tendency to lower their standards when playing more modest opposition. Over the next two weeks, if they are to make it into the URC play-offs, they will have to avoid that latter flaw when playing Connacht and Ulster, and instead hit the heights that they have reached against sides such as the Bulls, the Sharks and Bath.

2 weeks ago | theoffsideline.com | Stuart Bathgate

IF Finn Russell were an ordinary mortal, he might well have spent the last fortnight fretting futilely about factors beyond his control. Instead, as the Bath fly-half prepares to face Edinburgh in Saturday’s Challenge Cup semi-final at the Hive, it would appear he is remaining as serenely laidback as ever.

2 weeks ago | theoffsideline.com | Stuart Bathgate

STUART BATHGATE @ Hive StadiumSCOTLAND saved the best until last in this game – and arguably in this year’s Six Nations. With time running out against Ireland, and having had both Rhona Lloyd and Helen Nelson sin-binned in an attritional half, they might have been tempted to settle for a 19-19 draw. Instead, they went in for the kill – and were rewarded when, after a penalty had been sent to touch on the right, Francesca McGhie squeezed in at the left corner for the winning score.