Scotland’s troubled pro teams reach the end of a difficult season with their final home Magners League games tonight but lare ooking to finish on a high and with renewed optimism for next term.
Neither side will escape the bottom half of the Magners League but Edinburgh could move up to seventh if they record their third home win in succession by a handsome enough margin to leapfrog the Dragons, tonight’s visitors to Murrayfield, and have the much-missed Ross Rennie back in action for the first time since the Six Nations.
Glasgow, meanwhile, will play all five of their summer departures tonight as they seek to give the Firhill crowd a decent send-off by taking on the Scarlets, whose play-off hopes now hang by a thread going into the final two games.
At Murrayfield, outgoing head coach Nick Scrivener has piloted the capital club back to form with a more robust gameplan than his ousted predecessor Rob Moffat, and wants a rousing display to send the fans away for the summer with optimism.
“It’s vitally important that we build on the many good things we saw against Aironi last week, both to finish the season as strongly as possible and to make sure our fans have something to celebrate come Friday night,” said the coach, who is heading back to Australia at the end of the season.
“We’ve had our ups and downs on the field across the season, but they’ve always given us great support. The best way for the team to repay that is to keep coming up with wins.”
Edinburgh have been forced into some changes with injuries to Roddy Grant, Fraser McKenzie, Ben Cairns and James King meaning the return of the dynamic Rennie and the promising Stuart McInally to join David Denton, who has found his feet in professional rugby with a vengeance in the last month.
In the backs Chris Paterson starts at full-back with Jim Thompson moving to outside centre.
“We’ve had to shuffle our pack a bit with Roddy, Fraz, Ben and James being unavailable, but the quality of player coming in means we’re more than happy with the team we’ll be sending out,” Scrivener said.
“Ross and Stuart have been chomping at the bit to get back on the rugby field, and I’m sure that desire and energy will shine through.
“Our watchword this week has to be control. We need to control the pace of the game, control the physicality of the game and deal with the pressure Dragons will bring to bear at the set-piece and through their counter-rucking at the breakdown.
“The talent we have in the backs was there to see against Aironi, so it’s about giving those players a platform to achieve all that we know they can.”
Scrivener had special praise for Tim Visser, who broke the Magners League record for tries in a season when he bagged his 13th of the season against Aironi last week, and looks set to finish as the league’s top try-scorer for a second year in succession.
“Tim’s appetite for tries, and for improving as a player, make him a pleasure to work with. I’m delighted he’s committed his long-term future to the club by signing a new contract.”Glasgow fiveMeanwhile at Glasgow Sean Lineen has opted to field the five leaving the club at the end of the season Bernardo Stortoni, Kevin Tkachuk, Richie Vernon, Aly Muldowney and James Eddie as they face a Scarlets side that have to win if they are to retain any hope of a top four finish.
For Stortoni and Tkachuk in particular it will be an emotional night as long-time Firhill fan favourites.
“It was a tough call to make but it was for the right reasons,” said the head coach.
“I have a huge amount of respect for the players and what they have done for this club over the years.
“These guys have been fantastic players for us. You know they’re going to give their all in front of a home crowd, and while it will be quite an emotional night it has to be a professional night too. We have to go about doing our job right.”Cusiter appearanceChris Cusiter will make his first home appearance of the season in the final Firhill fixture, having eased his way back into play with a half at Treviso last week.
“It’s great to have a guy the quality of Cus back and Graeme Morrison scored a cracker of a try last week as well so they’re almost like new signings,” said Lineen.
Eddie, who has suffered with a succession of injuries, is the latest to be moving on but Edinburgh have announced that Matt Scott, the Currie fly-half, will be part of the capital side’s set-up next season.
The Dunfermline-born 20-year-old, a law student at Edinburgh University, is the first player to be named as part of the Elite Development programme for next season but is set to be groomed to challenge for the Edinburgh fly-half role which will be contested between Phil Godman, Greig Laidlaw and Alex Blair next season.
Edinburgh (vs Dragons, Magners League, Murrayfield, tonight 7.30pm):
Chris Paterson; Simon Webster, Jim Thompson, Nick De Luca, Tim Visser; Greig Laidlaw, Mike Blair; Kyle Traynor, Andrew Kelly (capt), Geoff Cross; Scott MacLeod, Esteban Lozada; Stuart McInally, Ross Rennie, David Denton.Replacements: Alun Walker, Robin Hislop, Lewis Niven, Steven Turnbull, Scott Newlands, David Blair, Lee Jones, Tom Brown.
Glasgow (vs Scarlets, Magners League, Firhill, tonight ko 8.05pm):
Bernardo Stortoni; Hefin O’Hare, Peter Murchie, Graeme Morrison (capt), DTH van der Merwe; Ruaridh Jackson, Chris Cusiter; Kevin Tkachuk, Dougie Hall, Moray Low; Aly Muldowney, Tom Ryder; James Eddie, Richie Vernon, Johnnie Beattie.Replacements: Fergus Thomson, Jon Welsh, Ryan Grant, Robert Harley, Ryan Wilson, Colin Gregor, Duncan Weir, Federico Aramburu.