Edinburgh v Aviron Bayonnais - teams and prediction

12/12/2024 09:25 AM

PREVIEW: Edinburgh welcomes the return of eight Scotland internationals for Friday's Challenge Cup Round Two encounter with Aviron Bayonnais.

The capital club returns for their first home match of this season's European campaign and is bolstered by a host of returning Scotland stars, including wing duo Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham.

Edinburgh started the tournament earning a gutsy bonus point in defeat against Gloucester at Kingsholm and will look to kickstart their Challenge Cup run with Bayonne coming to town.

Currently placed fifth in the French Top 14, 'Les Ciel et Blanc' is a familiar foe, having come to Edinburgh in the Round of 16 of last year's competition, when a four-try second half helped Edinburgh progress to the quarterfinal.

Van der Merwe – fresh from signing a new multi-year deal in the capital – returns to the back-three alongside Graham and fullback Wes Goosen, who opened his try-scoring account for the season with a fine finish at Kingsholm.

The capital midfield remains unchanged for the third match in a row, with Mosese Tuipulotu and Matt Currie starting at inside and outside centre respectively.

British & Irish Lion Ali Price returns to the side at scrumhalf, partnering flyhalf Ross Thompson in the halves.

Scotland International front row duo of Pierre Schoeman (loosehead) and Ewan Ashman (hooker) are back action, alongside ever-present tighthead Paul Hill.

Club co-captain Grant Gilchrist starts at lock, joining Marshall Sykes in the capital boiler house.

Magnus Bradbury retains the No.8 jersey after an impressive outing at Kingsholm and is joined in the back row by Luke Crosbie (openside flank) and the in-form Jamie Ritchie (blindside).

"It's great to welcome back some of our internationals for the match," coach Sean Everitt said.

"Winning at home in these knockout competitions is vitally important, so having those guys back in the starting lineup is incredibly important.

"We know that Bayonne can be a dangerous team; they played some great rugby against us last season and beat Scarlets last week, so they'll come to Edinburgh with confidence."

It was not the start to the Challenge Cup that Edinburgh would have hoped for last week, with the Scottish side ultimately falling to an impressive Gloucester side.

However, having taken last year's finalists to the wire, there will have been plenty of positives to take for Edinburgh, who have since been busy preparing for the visit of the French side.

Currently perched fifth in France's TOP 14 with seven wins from a possible 11, including wins over Stade Toulousain and Stade Rochelais, the Basque outfit continued this form in their Challenge Cup opener against Scarlets last Saturday.

And this strong run is exactly what Everitt appeared wary of.

"They're a much-improved team, as I said earlier.

"They are a big challenge for us.

"With the X Factor players that they have, particularly in the back three.

"So, we're going to have to be fully switched on to be able to win this one."

According to Aviron Bayonnais' admissions, this season's EPCR Challenge Cup is a competition they had targeted.

With that in mind, Everitt was even more aware that only their 'A' game would suffice for the French outfit.

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Prediction

Teams

Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Matt Currie, 12 Mosese Tuipulotu, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ali Price, 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Luke Crosbie, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (captain), 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Tom Dodd, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Ben Healy, 23 James Lang.

Aviron Bayonnais: 15 Cheikh Tiberghien, 14 Aurélien Callandret, 13 Arnaud Erbinartegaray, 12 Guillaume Martocq, 11 Tom Spring, 10 Camille Lopez (c), 9 Baptiste Germain, 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 7 Baptiste Heguy, 6 Esteban Capilla, 5 Veikoso Poloniati, 4 Denis Marchois, 3 Pascal Cotet, 2 Lucas Martin, 1 Andy Bordelai.
Replacements: 16 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 17 Swan Cormenier, 18 Pieter Scholtz, 19 Rémi Bourdeau, 20 Noa Traversier, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 Joris Segonds, 23 Nadir Megdoud.

Date: Friday, December 13
Venue: Edinburgh Stadium
Kick-off: 20.00 (22.00 SA time; 20.00 GMT)
Referee: Morné Ferreira
Assistant referees: Aimee Barrett-Theron, Christopher Allison
TMO: Marius Jonker

* Sources: @EdinburghRugby & @ChallengeCup_