EDINBURGH coach Mike Blair has been able to welcome back several key players for tomorrow night’s 1872 Cup match against Glasgow, with Blair Kinghorn, Luke Crosbie, Sam Skinner, Wes Goosen and Mark Bennett all returning from injury. There are seven changes in all from the team that began last week’s first-leg defeat at Scotstoun, with the other alterations seeing Boan Venter and Henry Pyrgos come into the starting line-up.
Venter takes over at loosehead prop from Pierre Schoeman, who is on the bench, while scrum-half Pyrgos replaces Ben Vellacott. Kinghorn reclaims the No 10 jersey from Charlie Savala, Skinner takes over from Glen Young at lock, and Crosbie is preferred at openside to Connor Boyle.
Goosen, a late call-off last week after being selected in the side, returns on the right wing as part of a back-three reshuffle which sees Emiliano Boffelli return to full-back and Harry Paterson drop out. Outside centre Bennett is an indirect replacement for Chris Dean, who was concussed in the 16-10 defeat by the Warriors; James Lang moves from 13 to 12.
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“This is a hugely exciting fixture for all connected to the club,” Blair said. “It’s set to be a special derby at BT Murrayfield and we hope to put in a performance that matches the significance of the 150th-anniversary fixture.
“We’re delighted to welcome back a number of experienced players from injury for this match-up and they’ll be relishing the chance to be back out there representing the city in a game that means so much to us and our supporters. We were obviously disappointed with the end result in the opening leg, however we showed a real resilience to stay in the match. That grit and determination will be needed once again as we go up against a very strong Glasgow side.”
Ten players are listed as unavailable through injury: Dave Cherry, Matt Currie, Chris Dean, Darcy Graham, Damien Hoyland, Henry Immelman, Adam McBurney, Stuart McInally, Cammy Scott and Hamish Watson.
Edinburgh (v Glasgow at BT Murrayfield, Friday 7.35pm): E Boffelli; W Goosen, M Bennett, J Lang, D van der Merwe; B Kinghorn, H Pyrgos; B Venter, T Cruse, W Nel, S Skinner, G Gilchrist, J Ritchie, L Crosbie, V Mata. Substitutes: P Harrison, P Schoeman, A Williams, M Sykes, C Boyle, C Shiel, C Savala, C Hutchison.
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Maybe Embra need some bigger guns?
True….would be better calling a Currie cup tie a Scotland trial….utterly shocking that a nation which only has two pro sides can only find 30% of the starting slots for homegrown talent. No other tier 1 nation has more contempt for their own players. No doubt that in next few seasons Georgia and Italy are going to overtake us.
even more depressing than the glasgow side that only has 6 of the starting XV coming up through the scottish set up, edinburgh only has 5 by my reckoning!! so only 11 players of the starting 30 are from and developed by scotland. someone at murrayfield must surely hear the alarm bells
You can’t hear alarm bells if you go around with your fingers in your ears!
And according to todays Daily Mail the SRU are having another go at snaring Ben Healy from Munster with all sorts of incentives on the table
My take on Crosbie for Scotland is that we desperately need players with a bit of dog in them, Dempsey is one, Skinner another but it’s Crosbie who Scotland need IMO, aggression physicality and attitude. With an eye to the world cup it’s essential Crosbie gets a few games In the 6N. Tough on Watson M.Fagerson.
With regard the game tomorrow I was impressed with Tom Jordan last week interesting to see how he copes with Edinburgh in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh must see this as something akin to the cavalry arriving, although Darcy is the one who will be missed most of all. Expect Crosbie to pick up where he left off and maintain his charge towards international selection, while it would be good to see Bennett give Townsend a nudge regarding the outside centre berth. To my mind Glasgow are always a better side with Olly Smith in the back line and I expect Richie Gray will be pushing hard for a late international recall. As an unofficial Scotland trial, I look forward to some fierce match-ups all over the pitch and hope the teams serve up a belter for us.
Agree about Crosbie – knock a few more backwards, play well and he’s definitely in the mix. Also good to see Hutchison on the bench.
“Unofficial Scotland trial” is one way of describing a bunch of foreigners playing rugby at Murrayfield tonight….