Challenge Cup: Edinburgh v Lions: four changes in home line-up for Round of 16 clash
Yesterday at 08:00 AM
EDINBURGH head coach Sean Everitt has made one selection and three enforced changes to the starting XV he sent out against Dragons last weekend, ahead of Friday night’s EPCR Challenge Cup Round of 16 clash against Lions at Hive Stadium.
Three of the changes involve experienced internationals coming into the front-five, with Dave Cherry in at hooker after being deployed off the bench last week, England cap Paul Hill returning at tight-head prop after a neck injury in place of D’Arcy Rae who has hurt his ankle (not expected to be long-term), and Sam Skinner taking over from the injured Marshall Sykes in the second-row. With Ewan Ashman named as hooker cover on the bench, Paddy Harrison drops – who scored the first two of Edinburgh’s six tries against the Dragons – drops out of the squad altogether.
The solitary backline alteration sees Ross McCann replace the injured Duhan van der Merwe on the left wing, with academy/Scotland U20s prospect Jack Brown coming in as back-three cover on the bench.
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As well as the incentive of progressing to the quarter-final stage of the Challenge Cup, this match offers Everitt’s side a chance to exorcise some of the demons of their horror show against the Lions in Johannesburg back in October, when three second half tries once the game was gone cannot disguise the woefulness of the 48-0 half-time scoreline.
Recent form suggests that Edinburgh are a more robust proposition now than they were then – even if two wins from their last five matches is hardly a cause to be cracking out the party-poppers and bunting. Lions, meanwhile, suffered a 42-0 loss against Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun in the URC last weekend.
If Everitt’s side do win this match, they will face either the winner of Saturday afternoon’s clash between Aviron Bayonnais and Vodacom Bulls the following weekend.
"We're in a knockout week, every week, so we're in the same situation as we were last year,” said Everitt. "The Lions defence is strong and they showed that in the second half against Glasgow, and they've got some X-Factor players there that can turn the game around very quickly which we found out in Johannesburg.”
Edinburgh Rugby (versus Emirates Lions @ Hive Stadium on Friday, kick-off 8pm – live on Premier Sports): W Goosen; D Graham, M Currie, J Lang, R McCann; R Thompson, B Vellacott co-©; P Schoeman, D Cherry, P Hill, S Skinner, G Gilchrist, J Ritchie, H Watson, M Bradbury. Subs: E Ashman, B Venter, J Sebastian, G Young, F Douglas, A Price, C Scott, J Brown.
Unavailable: Mark Bennett (quad), Emiliano Boffellli (hamstring), Connor Boyle (knee), Luke Crosbie (pec), Tom Dodd (shoulder), Jamie Hodgson (hip), Ben Muncaster (concussion), D’Arcy Rae (ankle), Matt Scott (neck), Marshall Sykes (foot), Mosese Tuipulotu (suspended), Duhan van der Merwe (ankle), Lewis Wells (ankle).
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