Edinburgh v Glasgow Warriors - teams and prediction
ROUND 11 PREVIEW: Edinburgh has been boosted by the return of a Scotland quartet ahead of the 1872 Cup decider against Glasgow Warrior at Murrayfield on Friday.
Blair Kinghorn, Mark Bennett, Sam Skinner and Luke Crosbie have all returned.
The team selection includes a further three changes to the side that faced the Warriors in last weekend’s opening leg.
Wes Goosen (wing), who also returns from injury, Henry Pyrgos (scrumhalf) and Boan Venter (loosehead) are all handed starts for the 150th-anniversary derby.
The home side is expecting a bumper 25 000 crowd as they look to overturn their 10-16 loss last week to the Warriors and need to overcome this scoreline to win the Cup on aggregate and leapfrog their Scottish rivals on the United Rugby Championship standings.
“This is a hugely exciting fixture for all connected to the team,” Edinburgh coach Mike Blair said.
“It’s set to be a special derby at 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 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.
“Our supporters will have a huge role to play on Friday night. We’ll need their backing from the first minute to last in what is a huge game for the team.”
Edinburgh has lost the last three United Rugby Championship matches and has not lost four in succession in the tournament for two years.
Edinburgh lost two of their last three home matches in the Championship, but at Murrayfield Stadium they were victorious last time out against Glasgow Warriors, in May.
Glasgow Warriors have lost only once in any competition since the end of October: 5-40 at Leinster in the United Rugby Championship on November 26.
The Warriors were successful on their most recent visit to Murrayfield, beating Perpignan there in the European Challenge Cup two weeks ago.
Glasgow’s only defeat in their last six encounters with their oldest rivals was 11-28 at Murrayfield on 21 May.
Edinburgh has the worst success rate from the tee in the league (56 percent). This is not for lack of trying – they have attempted 54 shots at goal, the third-highest in the league.
Darcy Graham has scored nine tries in six appearances – the most tries in the URC.
Edinburgh as a team have scored 41 tries, a total only bettered by Leinster.
Jamie Ritchie conceded four penalties in Round 10, as many as any other player (equal to Andrew Porter).
Attacking the fringes, George Horne has made the most metres from ‘pick-and-goes’ in the league (121).
Fraser Brown has made the most line-out throws in the URC this season (90). He has successfully linked with his target with 80 of these, hitting the front 42 times and the middle 34.
Supporting the ball carrier, Glasgow Warriors duo Stafford McDowall and Sebastien Cancelliere have both made seven support carries so far this season – the highest total in the competition.
Prediction
@rugby365com: Edinburgh by 11 points
Teams:
Edinburgh: 15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Wes Goosen, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 James Lang, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Blair Kinghorn, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Villiame Mata, 7 Luke Crosbie, 6 Jamie Ritchie (co-captain), 5 Grant Gilchrist (co-captain), 4 Sam Skinner, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Tom Cruse, 1 Boan Venter.
Replacements: 16 Paddy Harrison, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Angus Williams, 19 Marshall Sykes, 20 Connor Boyle, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Charlie Savala, 23 Cammy Hutchinson.
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Ollie Smith, 14 Sebastian Cancelliere, 13 Sione Tuipulotu, 12 Stafford McDowall, 11 Kyle Steyn (captain), 10 Tom Jordan, 9 Ali Price, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Sione Vailanu, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Sintu Manjezi, 3 Lucio Sordoni, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Jamie Bhatti.
Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Jean-Pierre du Preez, 20 Lewis Bean, 21 Cameron Neild, 22 George Horne, 23 Domingo Miotti.
Date: Friday, December 30
Venue: Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Kick-off 19.35 (19.35 GMT)
Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Hollie Davidson (Scotland), Ian Kenny (Scotland)
TMO: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
