'No pity parties at Edinburgh but we must be better' - Lawrie
[SNS] Edinburgh have failed to establish an identity as they battle to avoid another disappointing season, according to forwards coach Stevie Lawrie. The capital side succumbed to a dismal 54-17 defeat to the Lions in Johannesburg last weekend, a loss which leaves them in 13th place in the URC table, 12 points off the play-off places with five matches of the regular season remaining. Edinburgh have won just four of their 13 league matches this campaign.
"You need to produce a performance and game model that excites the players but also goes and applies pressure to the opposition," Lawrie said. "One of the frustrations is we're not laying down a certain identity around how we're playing "That's for us to fix. There's no excuses, there's no hiding place.
It's a case of, at the minute, it's just not quite there. " Edinburgh take on second-place Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday, and Lawrie says even if they pull off a shock win in the fashion of their stunning Champions Cup victory over French giants Toulon earlier this season, it would not signal an end to the team's problems. "I genuinely don't believe it's just going to be one performance, because I've seen that," Lawrie said.
"We've spoken about Toulon, we've seen it, and it didn't turn our season around, if we're completely honest. So it's about how we put that consistency over the piece. "It's a case of having the firm conversations both ways.
And you know what? There should be some bloody tough conversations going on at the minute, because it's not good. "If you look at the performance we put in against the Stormers when we came back from the Lions last year, that was a record defeat for the Stormers on the road at that time.