Press Pass: Cockerill on Wasps

• 3 December 2019
• Previews

Hear from Head Coach Richard Cockerill as he spoke with the media ahead of Friday night’s Challenge Cup round-three match against Wasps at BT Murrayfield.

On the return of Darcy Graham

“Darcy will start on Friday night. WP Nel won’t play this week. He’s training fully this week and he’ll be available for next weekend’s trip to Wasps.”

On the threat of Wasps

“They’re a big European club, they’ve won Europe, they’ve been English champions. They’ve got some very special players. They’ve got three All Blacks in their back line, they’ve got a Springbok, they’ve got England internationals.

"The Premiership is an unforgiving place, even after five games, you can be under pressure. But we know they have a lot of threat.”

On Wasps’ season so far

“Clearly they’ve not started the season the way they would have liked and they’ve got a few injury issues but that’s part and parcel of the game. Wasps are a good team but we know that if we put our best game on the field we’ll more than compete with them.

"But if we’re sloppy an inaccurate then they’ve got an All Black in the centre, they’ve got an All Black at 10 and they’ve got Jimmy Gopperth, a former All Black playing at 12 so they’ve got some real quality there. We will need to be on it.”

On the re-signing of Pierre Schoeman

“He is good enough to play for Scotland. Pierre is a very good player. If he was Scottish qualified now, I think he’d certainly be in the mix to play. He’ll be available for the next World Cup. My job is to keep the squad together and keep pushing the national cause as well as my cause for Edinburgh, so hopefully he’ll be here longer than me!

“The way he goes about his business in training and the way he plays, his durability to turn up every day and train and play whenever you want him to play is as good as anybody. I’ve coached some good looseheads and played with some and he’s as good as any of those. He’s just a bloody good man who works really hard and who’s a very good player too so that’s all part of the package we’re getting.

"He’s got a personality. He’s very outgoing and he’s good for the culture because he works very hard. He comes in every day with a smile on his face and treats everybody as equal whether you’re the intern or you’re the Head Coach. He takes criticism well. And he’s good fun – if you want to have some fun, in all the right ways, go out with Schoey!”