Edinburgh and Glasgow facing uphill battle to get stuttering seasons back on track
With a combined 25 players away on international duty and a further 15 injuries, many of them to key players, Edinburgh and Glasgow both face an uphill struggle to get their stuttering seasons back on course. Richard Cockerill's side entertain a Cardiff Blues side which won their first two league matches before defeats at Munster and at home to Ulster, while Danny Wilson's Warriors are in Belfast to face unbeaten Ulster. Both of the Scottish sides have played four matches, with their only wins coming against Scarlets; the Warriors winning well at Scotstoun and Edinburgh edging out the Welshmen 6-3 at Parc y Scarlets last Sunday.
On paper, Edinburgh have by far the easier task, yet they are without 23 players and face a Cardiff side which has not been hard-hit by Wales calls and which has been hugely competitive, easily dispatching Connacht 29-7 and taking an early lead against Ulster before being reeled back in by the powerful visitors. With Edinburgh having to make seven changes to the side from that which beat Scarlets, including five in the pack, they will have to step up their performance levels to register a win against the Welshmen.
However, there is a distinctly raw look to the Edinburgh line-up, with seven academy or first-year professionals in the matchday squad. Fijian tighthead prop Lee Roy Atalifo makes his Edinburgh debut, while lock Andries Ferreira makes his first start for the club, although there is some quality up front in loosehead Pierre Schoeman, blindside Magnus Bradbury and openside Luke Crosby, who returns from injury.
But with injuries to four locks in Andrew Davidson, Grant Gilchrist, Fraser McKenzie and Lewis Carmichael, plus No 8 Viliame Mata, wing Damien Hoyland, prop Murray McCallum and centre George Taylor, Edinburgh's resources are stretched perilously thin.
Behind the scrum, Henry Pyrgos captains the side, with centres Mark Bennett and Chris Dean supplying significant experience. However, impressive young newcomer Jack Blain makes just his third start at full-back while the inexperienced Nathan Chamberlain starts at fly-half in the absence of Jaco van der Walt, who is still isolating following his wedding in South Africa. Edinburgh's lack of depth is at its clearest on the bench where they field two scrum-halves in Nic Groom and Charlie Shiel. Also on the bench are young props Sam Grahamslaw and Dan Gamble, who will make their Edinburgh debuts if called upon.
“Results-wise this season obviously hasn’t been what we wanted,” said head coach Richard Cockerill. “But performance-wise I think we’ve been playing well. There are areas of our game that we need to be better on and we’ve been working hard to improve that, and last weekend the guys really stuck in there. It was brilliant to get the win, build a bit of confidence and get some points on the board.
“Cardiff are a completely different challenge and the weather will be different. We know they’ve got a lot of threats around the pitch so we’ll have to put in a really good performance to give ourselves a chance of a win.”
If Edinburgh face a difficult evening at Murrayfield, Glasgow Warriors seem likely to endure an even more daunting proposition in Belfast. As with Edinburgh, they also field a side showing seven changes from last week’s home defeat to Leinster for their first Pro14 trip to Ulster since April 2018.
Although they are missing a substantial Scotland contingent plus injured starters like Richie Gray, Leone Nakarawa and Kyle Steyn, the Warriors matchday squad is arguably more experienced than the one fielded by Edinburgh.
Argentina tighthead prop Enrique Pieretto make his first start for Glasgow, while the injury-bedevilled lock Kiran McDonald makes a rare first appearance of the season in the second row alongside Rob Harley. But Glasgow boast good strength in depth in the back row, where they field an unchanged trio of Ryan Wilson, Tom Gordon and Samoan TJ Ioane at No 8.
On the bench, second-row Lewis Bean, who is on a short-term loan deal from Northampton Saints, may make his Glasgow debut. In the backs they also have a good mix of youth and experience, with tyro Jamie Dobie starting at scrum-half alongside veteran Peter Horne, who makes his third successive start at fly-half. Stafford McDowall starts at inside centre alongside Scotland Sevens speedster Robbie Fergusson, who makes his first Warriors appearance in five years, with full-back Glenn Bryce also making his first outing of Glasgow's campaign.
“This is a massive opportunity for some young guys to step up and show what they can do,” said head coach Danny Wilson. “We’re putting out a young, fast, energetic squad and are excited to see what this team will produce.”
Starting line-ups
Edinburgh (v Cardiff Blues at BT Murrayfield, Monday 7.45pm): J Blain; E Sau, M Bennett, C Dean, J Farndale; N Chamberlain, H Pyrgos (captain); P Schoeman, D Cherry, L Atalifo, A Ferreira, J Hodgson, M Bradbury, L Crosbie, A Miller.
Replacements: M Willemse, S Grahamslaw, D Gamble, M Sykes, C Boyle, N Groom, C Shiel, J Johnstone.
Glasgow Warriors (v Ulster at Kingspan Stadium, Monday 8.15pm): G Bryce; R Tagive, R Fergusson, S McDowall, N Matawalu; P Horne, J Dobie; A Seiuli, G Stewart, E Pieretto, R Harley, K McDonald, R Wilson (captain), T Gordon, T Ioane.
Replacements: J Matthews, A Allan, D Rae, L Bean, H Bain, F Lokotui, S Kennedy, B Thomson.
