1872 Cup Champions

[Big D]

Good stuff. I can see why he might have wanted to give himself a point of difference but he definitely did look sluggish at times at the end of the season.

Gutted he didn’t manage to have a clean season and make a real push for the World Cup squad, but if he’s fully fit and over his injuries now that’s the main thing.

I wonder if it was a subconscious thing to "protect" himself from injuries (not that it did).

[switchskier]

I see that Tom Brown scored in a preseason match against London Scottish. Did I miss a contract signing? Would seem to make sense to have either him or Farndale on standby now that Graham and Kinghorn are both going to the world cup.

[General Zod]

Edinburgh have signed an Australian. Or an Austrian, I think.



Maybe a flanker to “replace” Kwagga?

[Mikey Brown]

Pocock can't be arsed with the world cup?

[General Zod]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/49675941

[Mikey Brown]

Looks absolutely tiny in that picture.

What is it with the BBC using the stupidest picture they can possibly find for every single rugby article.

[Big D]

Hunter Hill off to Sarries on loan.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Someone help me understand. CHH is off to Sarries on a loan. Thomson is signed as Edinburgh are short on second rows....

[francoisfou]

Is Luke Hamilton still with Edinburgh? Did he get many games last season?

[hugh_woatmeigh]

He was offered a 1 year extension and rejected it to play in Japan. His contract there ended a week or so ago so he's a free agent now.

[francoisfou]

He was offered a 1 year extension and rejected it to play in Japan. His contract there ended a week or so ago so he's a free agent now.

Thanks, h_w!

[Big D]

Someone help me understand. CHH is off to Sarries on a loan. Thomson is signed as Edinburgh are short on second rows....

Edinburgh have Carmichael, Douglas (WC), MacKenzie, Atkinson, Hodgson and now Thomson all able to cover during the WC.

At 22 this is a great opportunity to get a season in at Saracens. Even just training with them will do his development better than a handful of Pro14 games. This deal would have been in place before the Thomson deal.

[Cameo]

I hope he's going there actually to get games. I don't have the figures from last season but he could have probably expected around 10 games this season at Edinburgh. Him and Carmichael are fighting to replace Toolis over the next year or two

[General Zod]

From what I’ve seen of CHH, he’s going to be a very good player. It wouldn’t surprise me if Saracens think so too and this is some sort of new “try before you buy” scheme. Good luck to him.

[Mikey Brown]

Good to see Carmichael on the team-sheet. Hadn’t realised he was actually fit again.

I know they’ve both had massive form and injury issues of late, and missed all the RWC build up but it’s weird seeing Scott and Bennet fit to play together while we might have Horne and Harris out there for Scotland.

Such a shame the last few years both of those guys have had.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Sarries have two fit locks, one of who is Isiekwe who is a year younger but light years ahead in his development. He should get minutes off the bench.

[Mikey Brown]

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Christ, that ball carrier made that so much worse than it had to be for him.

[Big D]

I know he has lost weight but Scott looks a lot trimmer there.

[Cameo]

Full highlights now up. Scott looks great

[Big D]

IF and it is a big if (see what I did there) Scott and Bennett can be fit for a whole season it really will be good to see. The reality is we don't know what relative heights they can reach but it would have the potential to be a very good pairing.

[Mikey Brown]

Yep. Just watched it. Definitely don’t want to get carried away with highlights from a preseason friendly, but it sure would be nice to have someone that actually tries to accelerate into contact with some sort of aggression rather than standing still.

The only others that do it are Watson and Graham, two of our smaller players, though that’s probably not a coincidence.

[Big D]

15. Damien Hoyland 14. Jamie Farndale 13. Mark Bennett 12. Matt Scott 11. Duhan van der Merwe 10. Jaco van der Walt 9. Nic Groom* CAPTAIN

1. Pierre Schoeman 2. Dave Cherry 3. Pietro Ceccarelli 4. Fraser McKenzie 5. Murray Douglas 6. Lewis Carmichael 7. Luke Crosbie 8. Nick Haining*

Replacements: 16. Mike Willemse* 17. Jamie Bhatti* 18. Murray McCallum (49) 19. Mesu Kunavula* 20. Ally Miller (8) 21. Charlie Shiel (6) 22. Simon Hickey (19) 23. George Taylor (4)

Unavailable due to injury: James Johnstone, Ruan Steenkamp, Ross McCann, Jack Blain, Hamish Watson, Chris Dean
Unavailable due to international selection: W.P Nel, Simon Berghan, Stuart McInally, Grant Gilchrist, Ben Toolis, Jamie Ritchie, Magnus Bradbury, John Barclay, Blair Kinghorn, Darcy Graham, Henry Pyrgos, Viliame Mata

Sau, Kinghorn and Graham due back at some point I'd be thinking they could do some damage with a decent backs coach.

[Big D]

Promising signs in that centre partnership!

[Adder]

Nick groom also delivering great ball.

Sent from my Redmi Note 7 using Tapatalk