{"id":73236,"date":"2025-05-04T07:08:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-04T07:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/73236\/"},"modified":"2025-05-04T07:08:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-04T07:08:12","slug":"everitt-admits-edinburgh-blew-it-as-bath-battle-back-to-wreck-capital-sides-challenge-cup-hopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/73236\/","title":{"rendered":"Everitt admits Edinburgh blew it as Bath battle back to wreck capital side&#8217;s Challenge Cup hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"mol-bullets-with-font\">\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>Finn Russell kicked three conversions and a penalty to help English side to victory at Hive Stadium<\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>Bath will face the winners of Sunday&#8217;s semi-final between Lyon and Racing 92\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By CALUM CROWE <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"> Published:  15:29 EDT, 3 May 2025   |  Updated:  15:46 EDT, 3 May 2025   <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/edinburgh\/index.html\" id=\"mol-32ba4470-2853-11f0-9d1f-5514dbf5a451\" rel=\"noopener\">EDINBURGH<\/a> head coach Sean Everitt admitted his team blew a huge chance to reach the European Challenge Cup final after falling to a 39-24 defeat against Bath.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Up against Scotland superstar <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/scotland_rugby\/index.html\" id=\"mol-32c31e10-2853-11f0-9d1f-5514dbf5a451\" rel=\"noopener\">Finn Russell<\/a>, Edinburgh threatened a huge shock as they led the English Premiership pace-setters 17-12 with half an hour to play.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Despite being put under intense pressure from the visitors, Edinburgh had a fighting chance to claim what would have been one of the finest results in their history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">But a mixture of ill-discipline and basic errors proved to be their undoing over the final 30 minutes, scuppering what had been a terrific effort in defence.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-b6cec7a13d972561\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/97997159-14675769-image-a-29_1746299873039.jpg\" height=\"422\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Finn Russell commiserates with Edinburgh winger Darcy Graham after Edinburgh's defeat\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Finn Russell commiserates with Edinburgh winger Darcy Graham after Edinburgh&#8217;s defeat<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-c8878da01c144b01\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/97997157-14675769-image-a-30_1746299910414.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Javan Sebastian (left) and Ross Thompson are dejected at full-time after Saturday's defeat\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Javan Sebastian (left) and Ross Thompson are dejected at full-time after Saturday&#8217;s defeat<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Proud of his team\u2019s efforts, Everitt was left to rue a missed opportunity as a barrage of Bath pressure eventually told in the end.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018We showed a lot of fight and a lot of pride in the jersey, but unfortunately we fell just a little bit short,\u2019 said the Edinburgh head coach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018I\u2019m proud of how we defended our goal-line with so much energy and passion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018But we knew it was always going to be difficult against a Bath team who can put you under so much pressure in that area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018We weren\u2019t accurate enough in the middle third of the field. That\u2019s something we need to look at.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018In the second half, our discipline also wasn\u2019t what it needed to be. We allowed Bath too many easy entries into our 22.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018Bath are one of the most efficient teams in Europe in that area and they can really punish you.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018They put us under pressure and really kept us pinned in our own 22 for a lot of the second half.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018In saying that, we put ourselves into a good position early in the second half and got ourselves into the lead.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-7e79901d072d783a\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/97997161-14675769-image-a-31_1746300102081.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Bath superstar Finn Russell can't stop Edinburgh's Ali Price from scoring\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Bath superstar Finn Russell can&#8217;t stop Edinburgh&#8217;s Ali Price from scoring<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-d1d1b870905144de\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/97997149-14675769-image-a-32_1746300129114.jpg\" height=\"422\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Finn Russell scored three conversions and a penalty as Bath reached the Challenge Cup final\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Finn Russell scored three conversions and a penalty as Bath reached the Challenge Cup final<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018It\u2019s disappointing that we weren\u2019t able to capitalise on that. The guys are absolutely gutted but we need to pick ourselves up now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018There are a lot of positives we can take from this and we\u2019re going to need that over the next few weeks in the URC.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Bath will now be strong favourites to go and win the final later this month, which will see them face either Lyon or Russell\u2019s old club Racing 92.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Although this wasn\u2019t Russell\u2019s most influential display, Everitt feels Bath will take some stopping.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018I think Bath could go all the way now,\u2019 he said. \u2018They can hurt you in so many different areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018We defended so well to keep them out and that\u2019s credit to our boys. But they are going to be very difficult to stop in the final.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018They have so much power and quality in their pack. You can see it throughout their forwards and the guys they can bring off the bench.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018We showed so much fight to keep them relatively quiet in terms of their back line. But they can hurt you in so many different ways.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018It\u2019s slightly disappointing that we couldn\u2019t impose our own game on them more, but Bath are a quality side. They are top of the Premiership for a reason.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>                    Share or comment on this article:<br \/>\n                        Everitt admits Edinburgh blew it as Bath battle back to wreck capital side&#8217;s Challenge Cup hopes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Finn Russell kicked three conversions and a penalty to help English side to victory at Hive Stadium Bath&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,92,1102,4884,101,4204,712,93,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-73236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-edinburgh","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-premier-league","13":"tag-rugbyunion","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-sport","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}