Connacht could face Edinburgh's Lions
Ross Ford has been named amongst Edinburgh’s replacements for Friday’s Magners League match against Connacht at Murrayfield but his fellow British and Irish Lions tourist Mike Blair is rated doubtful after suffering from a throat infection.
It potentially could be 25-year-old Ford’s first taste of competitive action since featuring for the Lions during the win over the Springboks in Johannesburg two months ago.
As a result, Ford says he is raring to go and wants to help Edinburgh build on their positive start to the season with a good result against Connacht – the team he made his club debut against two years ago.
“I’m really excited to be back in the squad for Friday’s match,” said Ford to the clubs official website.
“I’ve now had four weeks of pre-season training, so I feel fresh and I’m looking forward to getting back into it.
“Last week’s win at Cardiff was an excellent result and now hopefully I’ll be able to help the team build on that against Connacht.”
Blair has also been provisionally named on the bench for the match, but will face a fitness test to determine whether or not he has recovered from a throat problem.
If the Scotland captain does not recover in time then former Scotland Under-20 scrumhalf Ross Samson will take his place amongst the replacements.
Following last Friday’s 22-21 triumph at Cardiff City Stadium, head coach Rob Moffat has made one change to the starting line-up with Andrew Turnbull replacing try-scorer Tim Visser on the wing.
Allister Hogg will captain the side again and operate in the back row alongside Alan MacDonald and Roddy Grant.
On the bench, back row forward Scott Newlands returns after three months out with a bicep injury and summer recruit, Steve Jones is involved in the squad for the first time since his move from Newcastle.
Meanwhile, Connacht have made three changes to the side picked up a bonus point against the Ospreys on the opening weekend, all of them injury enforced.
Centre Niva Ta’auso (hand), props Brett Wilkinson (finger) and Robbie Morris (back) have been ruled out of the clash with Troy Nathan, Jamie Hagan and Ronan Loughney coming into their respective places.
The teams:
Edinburgh: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Mark Robertson, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 John Houston, 11 Andrew Turnbull, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Allister Hogg (capt), 7 Roddy Grant, 6 Alan MacDonald, 5 Scott MacLeod, 4 Craig Hamilton, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Andrew Kelly, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Ross Ford, 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 Fraser McKenzie, 19 Scott Newlands, 20 Mike Blair/Ross Samson, 21 Steve Jones, 22 Nick De Luca.
Connacht: 15 Gavin Duffy, 14 Brian Tuohy, 13 Troy Nathan, 12 Keith Matthews, 11 Fionn Carr, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Frank Murphy, 8 Mike McComish, 7 Ray Ofisa, 6 John Muldoon, 5 Bernie Upton, 4 Andrew Browne, 3 Jamie Hagan, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Ronan Loughney,
Replacements: 16 Adrian Flavin, 17 Conor Higgins, 18 Mike McCarthy, 19 Johnny O’Connor, 20 Miah Nikora, 21 Conor O’Loughlin, 22 Aidan Wynne.
Date: Friday 11 September
Time: 19:30 (18:30 GMT)
Venue: Murrayfield
Referee: James Jones (Wales)
Assistant referees: Neil Paterson (Scotland), Alan Forrest (Scotland)
