Edinburgh continue trend of Scottish sides falling short

Even as Edinburgh were amassing 11 victories in this regular United Rugby Championship season – a total bettered by only five of the 15 other sides in the competition – there was a sense that something was not quite right.

On some of the days Sean Everitt’s men came out on the right side of the result, there was a nagging feeling this collection of talent was performing within itself.

On a hot, sticky day in Treviso when they knew only their best would do to beat a strong Benetton side, an Edinburgh team featuring 12 internationals – two of them Test Lions – in their starting line-up produced their worst performance of the season.

With the likes of Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie and Ali Price on the pitch, leadership should not have been a problem, but it was.

With an experienced front row of Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman and WP Nel, the set piece should not have been a problem, but it was.

Injuries have taken their toll particularly in the back-line, but none of the experienced heads stood up to lead the way. Ben Healy, Duhan van der Merwe and the rest, they simply faded away as Edinburgh’s season followed suit.

It’s a deeply unsatisfying denouement to the campaign, not least for the likes of Nel and Bill Mata. Two titans of the club now depart the scene with a bitter taste following a desperate capitulation in their final match in Edinburgh colours. They deserved better.

How to explain a team performing so far below their best when the stakes are at their highest? It’s a question asked of Scottish sides for years now.

Even restricting examples to the past 12 months, one can point to Glasgow Warriors’ dreadful misfire against Toulon in last season’s Challenge Cup final, Scotland’s horrendous implosion against Ireland in their World Cup pool decider or their shock defeat in Rome that put paid to yet another Six Nations title challenge.

Are these moments of failure all linked? Is there a theme here with many of the same players involved time and time again?

As former Scotland captain John Barclay – a man who played alongside many of these players – said recently on the BBC Scotland Rugby Podcast, there is only so long you can say the problem is not a mental one. At some point you have to accept that there is an issue there.