Richard Cockerill ramps up 1872 derby tension despite injury crises and experimental line-ups

These may be surreal times, but some things never change. After more than five months without club rugby, the announcement of the Edinburgh and Glasgow teams for the first of back-to-back 1872 Cup games has revealed experimental selections, huge injury lists and coaches pointing to empty coffers to explain make-do-and-mend selections. If it wasn’t for the total absence of spectators at Murrayfield, a raft of new law interpretations and a truncated season that effectively puts Edinburgh into the semis while making these games a face-saving exercise for Warriors’ new coach, Danny Wilson, it could almost be business as normal.

Yet there is an undeniable frisson to the return of Pro14 rugby, with the raft of talking points and the confirmation that next week’s game will be played in front of a small number of spectators ramping up interest levels. The main headlines around Saturday evening’s match surround two Warriors selections: that of Huw Jones at full-back, where he has not played since his days in South Africa with the Stormers, and that of Matt Fagerson at openside, where he hasn’t played since the under-20s. That said, an injury and unavailability list that includes 12 Glasgow players and seven from Edinburgh – nine of whom could have expected to start - is equally extraordinary.

So, too, a paucity of resources that sees Edinburgh putting youngster Nathan Chamberlain on the bench despite only having played a handful of games of men’s rugby, because they only have access to one No 10, while Richard Cockerill (“we have the cards that we’ve been dealt”) has also handed a debut to a lock, Andrew Davidson, who was recently discarded by Glasgow. The Warriors are hardly in much better shape, with coach Danny Wilson justifying playing Jones at 15 with the two words “needs must”, while his front-row locker is so denuded that he has drafted prop Dylan Evans, up from Scarlets on a two-week loan deal, onto the bench.

None of the above seems to be worrying Cockerill, who was in characteristically bullish form, perhaps unsurprisingly given Edinburgh’s record in 1872 Cup matches at Murrayfield. “I’ve always been brought up to regard local derbies and rivalries as important,” he said. “I’ve always treated it with the respect that it’s due. I enjoy the rivalry, the competition, the pressure and the bragging rights and all that comes with it. We’re looking forward to it, we enjoy the challenge of derby day, and we’ve embraced it from the first minute I arrived here. What I’ve found is the Edinburgh boys don’t need any encouragement to get motivated for this fixture. And as we’ve become a better team on top of that, then it's been very good for us.”

The days when this match was a straight contest between Edinburgh’s brawn and Glasgow’s guile are long gone, but this meeting of two rusty sides, believes Cockerill, will still revolve around defence and the breakdown, where the new law interpretations have led to an explosion in turnovers and penalties in Super Rugby and the Premiership. In that regard, Fagerson – who his coach concedes is “really a six and a half” – playing on the openside in direct opposition to Hamish Watson will be fascinating.

Wilson, though, believes that Fagerson’s natural ability and the nous of streetwise team-mates Ryan Wilson, Rob Harley and Fraser Brown will see Glasgow win more than their fair share of ball. “Matt’s one of the best jackalers we’ve got,” said Wilson. “He has a real presence at the breakdown and defensively he’s a real threat over the ball.”

If the outcome of that crucial duel at the breakdown is an unknown, there is one absolute certainty at Murrayfield, which is that tyro full-back Jones will be subject to a torrent of garryowens from newly-qualified Edinburgh stand-off Jaco van der Walt. Asked about the possibility, Cockerill just grinned. “I’d say he’s going to be catching a high ball quite early tomorrow, wouldn’t you? It’s no secret is it?”

Cockerill is sufficiently confident that Edinburgh can do enough to claim a home semi-final that he has chosen not to play some players who would have featured had this been do-or-die (“we’ll have to be pretty average not to get into a semi-final and we would want a fit squad to go there”). Wing Darcy Graham, for instance “is 95 per cent and could have played”, but is being saved for bigger and better things. But Magnus Bradbury (calf), Jamie Ritchie (dislocated finger), Fraser McKenzie (dislocated shoulder), Lewis Carmichael and Henry Pyrgos (both concussion) could never have played.

Whether Cockerill’s confidence is misplaced remains to be seen. Games between these two fierce rivals are always feisty, niggly and brutally physical, and that’s unlikely to change because Glasgow have only a theoretical chance of securing a semi-final berth. Throw in the presence of a new Warriors coach and the proximity to Gregor Townsend’s Scotland squad selection for the Autumn internationals and you have the recipe for an extra-spicy encounter – which is one thing 1872 Cup games have never lacked.

Match details

Glasgow Warriors (v Edinburgh, Murrayfield, 5.15pm kick-off): H Jones; T Seymour, N Grigg, P Horne, R Tagive; A Hastings, A Price; O Kebble, F Brown (capt), Z Fagerson, R Gray, S Cummings, R Harley, M Fagerson, R Wilson. Replacements: G Turner, D Evans, D Rae, K McDonald, T Gordon, G Horne, N Matawalu, G Bryce.

Edinburgh: B Kinghorn; E Sau, M Bennett, C Dean, D van der Merwe; J van der Walt, N Groom; R Sutherland, S McInally (capt), WP Nel, A Davidson, G Gilchrist, L Crosbie, H Watson, V Mata.
Replacements: M Willemse, P Schoeman, S Berghan, J Hodgson, N Haining, C Shiel, N Chamberlain, G Taylor.