Edinburgh 25/26

[BaldiePete]

Fixture list is out for the Champions Cup. Not a hope in hell of getting to the playoffs and probably bottom of the group so no drop down to the Challenge Cup. Maybe a win against Gloucester but I can’t see us beating the French teams or Bath.

Sunday 7th December – 5.30pm – Edinburgh v Toulon
Sunday 14th December – 1pm – Castres Olympique v Edinburgh
Friday 9th January – 8pm – Edinburgh v Gloucester
Friday 16th January – 8pm – Bath v Edinburgh

[Cameo]

Not quite on topic but WP Nel has signed up to play and (mainly) coach at Stirling County, while also doing some coaching at Glenalmond School.

Shouldn't assume all good players make good coaches, but good to have him back in the country anyway. If there is a real injury crisis he might even be a last resort for a pro team!

[BaldiePete]

Not quite on topic but WP Nel has signed up to play and (mainly) coach at Stirling County, while also doing some coaching at Glenalmond School.

Shouldn't assume all good players make good coaches, but good to have him back in the country anyway. If there is a real injury crisis he might even be a last resort for a pro team!

Bad news for loosehead props in National League 1. It’s good to see that he’s stayed here and is contributing back to the game in Scotland.

[septic 9]

Not quite on topic but WP Nel has signed up to play and (mainly) coach at Stirling County, while also doing some coaching at Glenalmond School.

Shouldn't assume all good players make good coaches, but good to have him back in the country anyway. If there is a real injury crisis he might even be a last resort for a pro team!

Bad news for loosehead props in National League 1. It’s good to see that he’s stayed here and is contributing back to the game in Scotland.

not so much stayed here as returned. I think he had gone "home". He had asked the SRU about a coaching role, told no vacancies (probably true and as the are broke a new post for an unproven coach maybe a risk too far)
I very much hope he proves his worth at Stirling and can use that as a lever into a pro team role

I think playing will very much be last resort, and young LHs would relish the opportunity to put one over the old man

[BaldiePete]

Edinburgh have their first pre-season match away to Ulster on Friday and have released injury news. The two best hookers are injured so they’ll have to rely on Ashman and an academy player (Blyth-Lafferty or Morris) certainly for this week and possibly next week. Also, Venter is away with the Boks.

Darcy Graham (ankle) – Continues to recover from injury sustained while playing for the British & Irish Lions. Expected back in late September.
Rob Carmichael (wrist) – Expected to return to full training this month.
Connor Boyle (knee) – Expected to return to full training next month.
Paddy Harrison (back) – Out until mid-September.
Tom Dodd (calf) – Out until mid-September.
Dylan Richardson (back) – Out until early October.
Callum Hunter-Hill (back) – Out until early October.
Mosese Tuipulotu (knee) – Continues to recover from knee injury sustained against Connacht in May. Underwent successful surgery and expected to return to training in December.

[Cameo]

Ouch, that is a long time for Tuipolotu

[BaldiePete]

Team for the Ulster match features a lot of academy and youngsters with a few more experienced players to make up the starting 15. Apparently Christian Lindsay in the 2nd row is only 18 and has come straight into the team from playing for Loretto School.

J Brown, L Wells, M Davidson, F Thomson, R McCann, R Thompson, Hector Patterson; J Whitcombe, J Blyth-Lafferty, R Litterick, C Lindsay, G Young, O Duncan, F Douglas, T Currie

Replacements: M Jones, H Morris, A Williams, E McVie, S Skinner, L McConnell, H Watson, M Bradbury, C McAlpine, C Scott, R McKnight, C McCaig, M Satala

[BaldiePete]

Lost 31-19. It was 19-0 at half time when Edinburgh had nine academy players and five first year professionals playing but the second half saw more experienced players such as Watson, Skinner and Bradbury come on and give the score a bit more respectability. Apparently scrum half McAlpine played well and scored a nice try, as did Satala.

[BaldiePete]

The final warm up is a double header against English Championship teams. The first selection is definitely an A team mostly being youngsters. It’s kind of worrying that they’ve borrowed two players from Glasgow to sit on the bench for this one. The season hasn’t started and they’re already struggling for players.

Team for Doncaster Knights:
J Brown; M Satala, N Moncrieff, M Davidson, R McKnight; R Wolfenden, C McAlpine; J Stewart, H Morris, O Blyth-Lafferty, C Lindsay, G Young, S Byrd, T Currie, O Duncan.

Replacements: J Blyth-Lafferty, B White, A Williams, R Burke*, D Cockburn*, H Patterson, H Widdowson, R McHaffie.
* on loan from Glasgow Warriors academy


This looks like more like the best squad available with the exception of the missing Lions DVDM, Graham and Schoeman. I’d rather they started Harrison but it’s good to see Douglas getting the start. Watson has been a great servant to Edinburgh and Scotland but it’s time to give the younger players a go.

Team for Ealing Trailfinders:
W Goosen; H Paterson, P O’Conor, J Lang, L Wells; R Thompson, B Vellacott; J Whitcombe, E Ashman, P Hill, M Sykes, G Gilchrist, L Crosbie, F Douglas, M Bradbury

Replacements: P Harrison, D Rae, M Jones, S Skinner, L McConnell, H Watson, C Shiel, C Scott, R McCann.