Sam Hidalgo-Clyne will get the opportunity to prove that he should be Scotland’s scrum-half ahead of Greig Laidlaw when they go head-to-head in next week’s European Rugby Challenge Cup Final.
The 21-year-old scored a European club record 25 points in Edinburgh’s hugely impressive 45-16 rout of Dragons in the first semi-final at BT Murrayfield on Friday and the following night the dream match-up was confirmed when Laidlaw’s Gloucester beat Exeter Chiefs 30-19 to book their place in the final, on May 1 at The Stoop in London.
Hidalgo-Clyne has understudied Laidlaw last year at Edinburgh and this year for Scotland during the Six Nations, but an increasing number of observers think the fleet-footed youngster should usurp the man who captained the national team through the spring.
He could have had a fourth successive man of the match award on Friday night the award went instead to lock Ben Toolis with a try and three lineout steals – in another sparkling display and there’s no hotter scrum-half in European rugby right now.
However, he’s merely looking forward to locking horns with his mentor a week on Friday as Edinburgh become Scotland’s first representative in a European final.
“I have to admit I have thought about that, and it would be great,” said Hidalgo-Clyne on Friday, before Gloucester’s win confirmed it.
“But this was probably our best and most complete performance as a squad, and we’re clearly right on form at the moment, so we’ll go to the final with confidence.
“Personally, I might have played better in the Bordeaux game in the pool stages, I made more mistakes in this game but that was down to the way it was played, it was very loose and maybe we’ll need to be more systematic.”
Kicking four penalties and four conversions, Hidalgo-Clyne raced in for a brilliant solo try and made another for Tim Visser with a neat blindside pass.
“I had no idea it was a club record, and even missed a couple of kicks which was not ideal,” he said. “To be honest the pack made things easy for me, the front row were awesome, Ben stole lineout ball and I was always on the front foot.”
Laidlaw had a sharp game for the Cherries at Kingsholm, playing the whole 80 minutes and kicking 12 points, but there’s a growing groundswell for Hidalgo-Clyne to get his chance due to his greater pace and quicker service.
Edinburgh head coach Alan Solomons is just delighted that the scrum-half has seized his opportunity this season.
“Sammy is different because he wasn’t thrown in because of the injuries we’ve had, he had his chance and he grabbed it,” said the veteran coach.
“He’s a really, really good player and is playing some terrific rugby right now. Being heavily involved in the Six Nations has been a huge thing for him, and he’s been generating so much for us off the back of that.”
The European final is vindication for the South African, despite having suffered so many injuries this year.
“Last year was tough and we fell away in the final games, but this year we had an opportunity to progress, and it’s been great to see all the young boys come through,” he added.