It’s still strange to think of Alasdair Dickinson as the grizzled and streetwise veteran prop but that’s what he’s become as he aims to lead Edinburgh to break their run of losses in the 1872 Cup today.
Dickinson, in clearly the best form of his long career that began with Dundee HSFP, will spearhead an increasingly impressive Edinburgh scrum as the foundation the capital club hope will help end a run of three years and six games without a win against Glasgow Warriors at BT Murrayfield tonight.
In his early career Dickinson was known as a ball-playing prop he even did a shift on the wing in one game at Mayfield with a perception that he struggled in the scrummage, but that’s certainly not true now.
“The tables have sort of turned,” admitted the Scotland prop, who at 31 is the elder statesman of the Edinburgh squad these days. “I was scoring tries when I started and maybe struggling at the scrum and now it’s the other way.
“It’s just experience. I’m still learning all the time, and during my career I’ve been able to tap into the knowledge of great props like Chunk (Allan Jacobsen), Dave Hewett, Christian Califano, Greg Somerville and Tom Smith, guys who’ll teach you stuff that a coach never could.”
That experience means he looks after himself better, and knows that these derby games, while having extra intensity, need to be put in perspective.
“I guess a lot of people look at them as Scotland trials, but I’m old enough and wise enough to just get on with the job in hand.
“I can’t pick the Scotland team and nor can any player, you can only train and play as best you can and what will be, will be. If you get carried away trying to do more than your job you can slip up.
“Even when you have had a run in the Scotland team, you’ve got to set your targets about how you can be prepare and keep the jersey, but on any team you play on you’re only borrowing that jersey.”
Dickinson is also an advocate of “less is more”, a marked change from his younger days.
“Then I used to train, got to rugby and train, come home and go out and train again,” he said. “You can do that when you’re younger but then again you play less.
“Now it’s quality of work. I still do my extras, but the recovery aspect from games is more important.”
That matter-of-fact attitude extends to games like tonight’s, he argues.
“Nobody really speaks about these derbies like this, but primarily this is a league game,” he said. “We’re lying 8th in the PRO12, where we don’t want to be, and we need the points.”
Duickinson has great respect for his opposite number today, Jon Welsh, and also for Glasgow captain Al Kellock.
“Jon’s an incredible athlete, unbelievably strong and a really good scrummager,” he continued. “Big Al is a huge part of Glasgow, he’s a bit of a figure there and has revelled in it, really done that job well.
“But we’re a really close knit squad now, even though our results have been a bit up and down this year. There’s some great talent here, young props like Rory Sutherland and A lan dell, and I try to help them as much as I can with my experiences from when I was their age.”
There are only two changes in the Edinburgh side for the second leg tonight – where a crowd well in excess of five figures is expected – and they show the same kind of attacking intent head coach Alan Solomons reverted to in the second leg last year.
Then the veteran South African radically switched his gameplan to an open style and his team almost produced a shock bvefore going down 38-34 in an entertaining contest.
This time, he’s restored Tim Visser and Phil Burleigh, the New Zealander’s inclusion coming at the expense of Andries Strauss, a fixture in the Edinburgh midfield this season, but largely known as a defender rather than a creative foil for midfield partner Matt Scott.
Hamish Watson, in superb form in the early season until he broke his jaw in a European Challenge Cup game, returns to bench duty.
Glasgow, meanwhile, has made 10 changes from the team that won the first leg 16-6, with the only area of the team left untouched being the centre partnership of Peter Horne and Alex Dunbar.
There’s a new back three of Peter Murchie, Sean Maitland and Tommy Seymour, new half-backs in Finn Russell and Niko Matawalu, an entirely new front row of Gordon Reid, Dougie Hall and Welsh, while Jonny Gray and Tyrone Holmes make their returns in the pack.
But in a further show of how strong the Warriors are these days, nine of the ten players brought in are internationalists.
Edinburgh (vs Glasgow Warriors, 1872 Cup/Guinness PRO12, BT Murrayfield, ko 7.35 pm, live on Sky Sports)
Jack Cuthbert; Dougie Fife, Matt Scott, Phil Burleigh, Tim Visser; Greig Tonks, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne; Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford, John Andress; Ben Toolis, Anton Bresler; Mike Coman (capt), Roddy Grant, David Denton.
Replacements: Neil Cochrane, Rory Sutherland, WP Nel, Fraser McKenzie, Hamish Watson, Sean Kennedy, Tom Heathcote, Sam Beard,
Glasgow: Peter Murchie; Sean Maitland, Alex Dunbar, Peter Horne, Tommy Seymour; Finn Russell, Niko Matawalu; Gordon Reid, Dougie Hall, Jon Welsh; Jonny Gray, Al Kellock (capt); Ryan Wilson, Tyrone Holmes, Josh Strauss.
Replacements: Fraser Brown, Alex Allan, Euan Murray, Leone Nakarawa, James Eddie, Ali Price, Richie Vernon, Stuart Hogg.