Head coach Alan Solomons says criticism of Edinburgh’s playing style is ‘manifestly unfair’.
Solomons watched his team register their first win of the Pro12 season against Scarlets at Murrayfield, but some have criticised the side’s lack of attacking ambition under his stewardship.
“Personally I think the criticism is unfair,” Solomons said. “This talk they are under instruction not to run the ball is nonsense.”
Solomons is adamant that Edinburgh’s attacking prowess has developed under his assistant Duncan Hodge.
“We have worked very hard on our attack, Hodgy is doing a good job and it is a question of playing the conditions correctly and getting the result. It is professional sport and it is about winning.
“No-one has given them any instruction on how to play. They have all the options available to take under our game management plan. That criticism is manifestly unfair.
“We are improving year on year. We are carrying a number of injuries [Al Dickinson, Anton Bresler, Nasi Manu, Jason Tovey, Will Helu and Damien Hoyland are all currently unavailable] and we are not a big budget squad.
“We are not Toulon. We don’t have a massive amount of money but I think we have a good group of players.”
Though several of his players have stated that a top four finish is the club’s target this season, Solomons says it is too early to make predictions on where his side will finish in the Pro12 table.
“It is too early to say how the season is going to pan out. Tonight was an important win but we are running a marathon and we want to finish as high as we can, but we will take it one game at a time.
“We have played two games in wet conditions and we played the conditions pretty well tonight [against Scarlets].
“We are developing the side and getting the players conditioned. We have worked very hard on our attack and we believe we have a balanced side. We will see where we are at the end of the season.”
Solomons confirmed Scotland flanker John Hardie went off for a head injury assessment, in the 52nd minute, and failed to return.
“The doctor felt he shouldn’t come back on and we will find out more in the course of the week.”
bbc