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Boyhood Edinburgh fan Connor Boyle determined to make his mark this season

By PA
GettyImages-1233429312

Boyhood Edinburgh fan Connor Boyle is determined to take a big step towards establishing himself in the team this season.

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The 21-year-old came on for the last 11 minutes last weekend to help his side close out a hard-fought victory in their opening United Rugby Championship match at home to Scarlets.

Boyle has now been rewarded with a rare start as one of six changes to Mike Blair’s line-up for Saturday’s clash with Benetton in Italy.

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The flanker – who came through the Edinburgh academy – is eager to keep making an impression with the team of his heart.

Boyle said: “Last weekend was brilliant because it was my first time playing a live game in front of home crowd, in the city I grew up – it was class.

“I grew up 10 minutes away from Murrayfield and went to school five minutes away. Stevie Lawrie (a coach at Edinburgh) was my PE teacher at school.

“I had a season ticket and I actually had an Edinburgh-themed birthday party when I was younger, so in terms of connections, I’m pretty well linked to the club.”

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Boyle knows he faces stiff competition for game time this term.

He said: “The Edinburgh back row is one of the most competitive in Europe. It’s amazing in terms of a learning environment for me because I’ve got Hamish Watson, who’s a Lion, Jamie Ritchie and Luke Crosbie who are all class players.

“The coaches here always tell young players that we’re trying to retire the people who are ahead of us so I just want to push on, get more game time and keep learning and improving.”

Boyle visibly enjoyed the win over Scarlets as he revved up the home crowd at the new DAM Health Stadium with passionate gestures.

He said: “Lots of my friends and people I know were at the game. I loved feeding off that energy in the crowd in the last 10 minutes. I am a passionate player – that’s who I am – so I was geeing up the crowd to help us get over the line.”

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After rousing the crowd last weekend, Boyle and Edinburgh will have to try and subdue a partisan home support in Treviso on Saturday.

He said: “Benetton are probably one of the form teams in the URC. We beat them in pre-season but we’re expecting a completely different outfit.

“They’re going to be physical up front. Italian teams are really passionate and they don’t like losing at home so we’re going to have to stem that passion and impose our own game on them.”

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Easy_Duzz-it 31 minutes ago
Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline?

The world never caught up the All Blacks just went backwards . After 2015 they had a plan to build the team around 2 players . Sam Cane and Beauden Barrett , Cane was hailed as the next Mccaw and Barrett the next carter . Unfortunately Cane sustained too many injures and Barrett despite being a great ball runner didn't have a high enough conversion rate or the game management skills to control the team and the game . Then to make matters worst , the selections were so bad year after year the forward pack became shockingly weak .

New Zealand had so much talent wasted betwen 2016 - 2023 . Laumape , elliot dixon , ben tamefuna , pita gus , ben lam , vaea fifita and so many other in form players that never got a look or the time to develop into great All Blacks .


Then you have the dual playmaker system that never worked , but they kept using it . why ? cause some men cant admit when they're wrong . thats the All Blacks between 2016-2023 . wrong coaches with the wrong vision , going in the wrong direction . now it appears the world caught up . but like I said the world never caught up . then you add the obvious flawed referee calls that happen to go against us more often then for us now . the worst of which that never gets called is when the opposition use rush defence but have players offside . this has been going for years , but who cares ? .


anyway its almost 10 and i need to get some shut eye .

Go the might All Blacks !!!!

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