Edinburgh Rugby's tackling machine will be seeking out a reunion

Edinburgh forward Luke Crosbie will seek out Richard Cockerill after Sunday’s match against Black Lion for a catch-up with the Georgian team’s coach who played such a key role in the flanker’s development.

Cockerill, who was in charge at Edinburgh for four seasons, gave Crosbie his first pro contract and helped mould him into an international back-rower.

There’s a mutual respect between the pair who share a similar no-nonsense outlook. Speaking before the 2023 Calcutta Cup match during his stint as England scrum coach, Cockerill was delighted that Crosbie had forced his way into the Scotland team.

Edinburgh's Luke Crosbie was a tackling machine last weekend. | SNS Group

“He’s not the normal well-to-do Edinburgh boy, is he?” he said at the time. “He’s a tough bugger and he carries hard and tackles hard.”

Crosbie came out on top on that occasion as Scotland won 29-23 at Twickenham and he is expecting a similarly tough contest against Black Lion in the home Challenge Cup tie. “They’ve got some big boys. It’ll be a physical battle for the full 80 minutes,” he said.

Crosbie made more tackles (33) than any other player across round 3 of the Challenge Cup and credits Cockerill for instilling in him the work ethic that helped take him on his journey from club rugby with Livingston and Currie to the national side.

“He was great for me, gave me my first contract and helped me develop a lot as a player,” said the flanker who was this week named in Scotland’s Six Nations squad.

“I learned a lot from him - some of his values about how hard you have to work on the field. That was something that came easy to me in terms of what he was demanding. And you would get a good laugh with him sometimes along the way.

“I’ll try and catch him [after the match] and see if he wants a beer. We’ll see what mood he’s in.”

Richard Cockerill and Luke Crosbie during an Edinburgh training session back in 2021. | SNS Group / SRU

Edinburgh have already secured their place in the last 16 of the Challenge Cup but a win on Sunday will mean they are one of the top seeds and will ensure home advantage in the knockout phase. Black Lion are bottom of Pool 3 but still have a chance of finishing in the top four and qualifying and both Crosbie and Edinburgh coach Sean Everitt expects Cockerill to have the Georgians fired up.

“He coached me when I first came through the academy so I know what he’s like,” said Crosbie, who will captain Edinburgh. “I think they’ll play a similar style to what he wants: physical, passionate, emotional. And when you are playing a team like that you need to be right up for it because otherwise you’ll be in trouble.”

Everitt added: “He’ll definitely motivate them for this one. By nature he does get the best out of teams. They’re coming here with a strong set-piece and kicking game, that’s what they pride themselves on, and we also know that’s a big contributor to winning. We spoke earlier in the week about how good they’ve been against some tough opposition. They have internationals in their group - over the EPCR they have fielded nine Georgian internationals, and we know Georgia have aspirations of finishing high up in the World Cup in 2027. So they’re certainly not a group that needs to be under-estimated.”

The teams

Edinburgh: 15. Wes Goosen; 14. Darcy Graham, 13. Matt Currie, 12. James Lang, 11. Lewis Wells; 10. Ben Healy, 9. Charlie Shiel; 1. Pierre Schoeman, 2. Paddy Harrison, 3. Paul Hill, 4. Marshall Sykes, 5. Sam Skinner, 6. Tom Dodd, 7. Luke Crosbie (c), 8. Magnus Bradbury. Replacements: 16. Ewan Ashman, 17. Boan Venter, 18. Javan Sebastian, 19. Glen Young, 20. Hamish Watson, 21. Ali Price, 22. Ross Thompson, 23. Mosese Tuipulotu.

Black Lion: 15. Luka Tsirekidze; 14. Akaki Tabutsadze, 13. Tornike Kakhoidze, 12. Ioane Metreveli, 11. Shalva Aptsiauri; 10. Luka Matkava (c), 9. Tengiz Peranidze; 1. Vasil Kakovin, 2. Shalva Mamukashvili, 3. Bachuki Tchumbadze, 4. Mikheil Babunashvili, 5. Guram Ganiashvili, 6. Sandro Mamamtavrishvili, 7. Mikheil Gachechiladze, 8. Luka Ivanishvili (c). Replacements: 16. Irakli Kvatadze, 17. Nika Khatiashvili, 18. Giorgi Chkhartishvili, 19. Lado Chachanidze, 20. Demuri Epremidze, 21. Davit Khuroshvili, 22. Amiran Shvangiradze, 23. Sandro Todua.

Referee: Jeremy Rozier (Fra).