They might have started the season competing for the same jersey in the Edinburgh shirt but Mark Bennett admits he’s loving playing with Matt Currie this season.
Both players started the campaign vying for the number 13 jersey but Currie has been used at 12 more often than not, and even got a run out on the wing during Saturday night’s thumping win over Scarlets at the Hive.
Currie has previously spoken about how much he has learned over his much more experienced midfield partner and Bennett has repaid the favour by speaking glowingly about his team-mate.
The 23-year-old showed his versatility by impressing on the wing after being shunted out of his normal position due to injuries in the back three and he got himself on the scoresheet during the second half of the 43-18 victory.
He’ll hope to be back in the centre alongside Bennett soon, with Emiliano Boffelli and Harry Paterson both due to return from injury in the near future.
Currie has excelled this season but the good news for Edinburgh fans is that Bennett feels there’s even more to come from him in the coming years.
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Speaking after the win over Scarlets, he said: “He’s been excellent this season. He’s someone who has got a hell of a lot of potential and week on week he has just grown.
“The interesting thing is that he actually does a lot of the work people probably won’t notice – in the breakdown, in the tackles, he gets us good go-forward, he clinical in the clear-outs. Its al those bits of detail that he’s really, really good at, and he’s just going to keep getting better and better. It is an exciting time having him in our squad.”
Bennett also got on the scoresheet himself, although it was in slightly fortuitous circumstances. He had raced the length of the pitch but as he was being closed down, he tried to offload to Duhan van der Merwe only for it to ricochet back to him off the face of defender closing him down.
Bennett then raced through and scored but he admits he was surprised he managed to do it so late in the game because he was so tired from the efforts put in during the match.
He joked: “The whole thing was driven by fear. He was reeling me in from miles away – but you take your chances when they come.
“I was knackered. It will be interesting to see the stats because it felt like the ball was in play a lot tonight with lots of long passages of play, so I was burst! I felt like I was going quick as well, but he was reeling me in – so I’m not sure if I am looking forward to seeing the replay because I think it might look like I was running on treacle!
“But I got there in the end, so I’ll take it!”
Edinburgh got just their second bonus point win of the season on Saturday night and it’s not been their greatest campaign so far.
But they are still in a strong position to take a playoff place and currently sit eighth in the table ahead of the final four games.
Bennett concedes that things haven’t always been great this season but he’s confident his side are getting to the levels they need to be ahead of the business end of the campaign and echoed his coaches view that they are hitting form at the right time.
He continued: “We’re getting there. It’s frustrating at times because we’re doing so much good stuff and not quite making it count, but I felt today we were better – we were creating opportunities on the edge and we were getting the ball in the right places, so we just need to be a little bit more clinical.
“It’s five points. That’s what we knew we needed going into this game and that’s what we came away with. Was the performance perfect? Absolutely not. Can we improve? Absolutely.
“So, as much as we’re frustrated that we didn’t finish those chances in the first half, the five points was the end result we needed.
“Cardiff is going to be a big challenge. They are a very good side. They were very unlucky last night – I didn’t see the game but I saw the final passage. So, that is going to be a really good challenge, especially down there.
“It is a must-win game for us. They all really are now. I think it’s really exciting for us that we are playing teams around us in the table so it is a chance for us to control our own destiny.
“So, we just need to go down there next week, put in another performance, get the win and keep the ball rolling.
“When it gets into play-off time, it is all about momentum – and hopefully this is a kick-starter.
“We’re close to getting a good performance and there is going to be a day when we get it right and we’ll blow someone away, and that’s what we’ve got to hold onto – knowing that performance is in us.
“In training, we’ve got to be clinical, and then transfer that into matches so that we put it out there against whoever it is we’re playing.”
“We just need to strive to start like we finished and then we’ll really put teams away.”
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