A cold, crisp Sunday and a perfect day for rugby, and a perfect day for an ever improving Edinburgh team to take the next step on the most unlikely of adventures.  If you were to go back several months and ask even the most optimistic of Scottish rugby fans I doubt they would have backed Edinburgh to be looking forward to a home quarter final over the Easter weekend.  In a group with big spending Racing Metro and London Irish along with a very solid Cardiff side, Edinburgh were the ‘experts’ tips as make-weights, there to make up the numbers.  So much for the experts view!

Edinburgh started the tournament with the tightest of victories away to London Irish and finished the group stage with a comprehensive demolition of the same side.  In between they’ve traded blows with Cardiff and have traumatised Racing Metro with dramatic wins.  Yesterday’s game shows just how far Edinburgh have come in such a short time.  Whilst the first game was a battle, yesterday’s match never seemed in doubt.  Despite two very late changes (Paterson and Denton dropping out minutes before kick off) Edinburgh took charge from the off and never let go.  After the game Edinburgh Head Coach Michael Bradley was delighted: “we played well and controlled the first half – we were patient, aggressive and direct”.

London Irish actually scored first, a penalty for a scrum infringement being knocked over by the Irish no. 10, Adrian Jarvis.  Edinburgh, who had started the match well, responded with quick possession in Irish territory.  Having stretched the Irish defence running through phases in which Visser was conspicuously absent, Laidlaw played a lovely half grubber through the defensive line and Visser streaked through to beat the defender to the ball. Laidlaw converted from out wide to bring the score to 7-3. Edinburgh were up and running.

Edinburgh extended their lead when Geoff Cross put a great hit on Corbisiero in a scrum, drawing a penalty in front of the posts.  Laidlaw, whose kicking was fantastic all day, slotted with ease.  As the half wore on Edinburgh grew in stature, executing some lovely handling and quick ball making them a pleasure to watch.  Talei, yet again, was immense.  The pressure told when after several phases deep in the Irish 22 Edinburgh went wide and with 2 men waiting a long pass bounced into the hands of Jim Thompson who had the easy job of running over.  Laidlaw converted from wide out, to give Edinburgh a 20-6 half time lead.

The second half provided an example of the strength of the Edinburgh defence.  For 20 minutes London Irish pounded the Edinburgh try line; the defence was both disciplined and resolute.  Eventually Irish knocked on and then drew a penalty to relieve the pressure.  It really was a fine display of defence, and as much a pleasure to watch as some of the attack.  London Irish finally got through on 66 minutes with the lively substitute Jonathan Joseph going over in the corner, and taking it to 20-11.  The extras were missed, making that the last of the scoring from the visitors.

Edinburgh responded in fine fashion when Talei finished in the corner after extended pressure on the Irish line.  Laidlaw again converted, and sealed the win.  However, Edinburgh knew that if they wanted a home quarter final they needed a bonus point win. Despite butchering a great opportunity from 75 minutes Edinburgh finally got their fourth try, and the crucial bonus point, with just three minutes remaining.  Talei – doing what he had all day – picked from a scrum deep in Irish territory and after gaining serious ground the ball went through a couple of phases to find Lee Jones more than willing to dot down in the corner.  Needless to say Laidlaw converted to finish the scoring at 34-11.  Comprehensive!

After the game Bradley highlighted the impressive crowd (10,892) who turned up to witness a momentous occasion for Edinburgh Rugby.

“This means a hell of a lot.  It’s great to see the size of crowd and week on week it’s building, people are coming back.  It’s very important for Scottish rugby that this continues”.

With Cardiff just failing to get a bonus point victory at home to Racing Metro, Edinburgh were confirmed as Pool winners and will now have a home tie against French giants Toulouse.  Ouch!

“Toulouse at home is much better that Toulouse away,” was Bradley’s response, adding “they can be absolutely stunning in attack but if you do your work properly and are clinical you can put them under pressure. Gloucester did that, Harlequins did that”.

The fact that Edinburgh have a home match cannot be under estimated, it gives them a big advantage for the quarter final (which will take place over the Easter weekend) and this was not lost on the Edinburgh coach.

“It’s a great opportunity, its key that we are at home.  The sides at home have a very good opportunity to progress, that’s where we are and we are delighted at that”

Of course, with the glory comes a financial boost for not just Edinburgh but also for Scottish rugby more generally.  The SRU coffers will be substantially boosted by success and Bradley was quick to point out that this will benefit more that just his own squad.

“The SRU is supporting both professional sides equally… Glasgow get half the share – and they give us half the money for getting to the Rabo Playoffs!”.

It was a fine day for Edinburgh rugby and Scottish rugby in general.  Hopefully the fans will flock back to Murrayfield for the quarter final and continue to support Edinburgh in this most wonderful of adventures.

Unless that is, you support Glasgow or Bath.

Chris Masoe (or Craig as he is know over at the Scotsman) has opted to remain in France rather than join Glasgow , and now another snub infinitely more heinous has been delivered by those folks we love to hate, Sky. Yes they provide extensive rugby coverage with the odd decent commentator and we are thankful for it. But they could extend it in the right direction a little better.

A case in point is this weekend in where from Pool 3 you can only watch Leinster – who have already qualified – play against Montpellier – who are unlikely to, unless they get a 5 point win against the champions at home.

Yes, that’s correct. Bath vs Glasgow is the only Heineken Cup pool game not on Sky this weekend. Even Leicester vs Aironi, which has a bearing on absolutely nothing, seems to be getting an airing (although not according to the ERC site).

Thanks Murdoch et al. So if you want to post about the Scottish teams being dismissed as second class broadcast-able citizens in a season that saw (but no-one outside Edinburgh did) the once-in-a-generation match between Edinburgh and Racing Metro, or post about Glasgow possibly having to work without benefit of a TMO in a game that is crucial to their European survival, then this would be the place!

We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Phil Godman has never had that easy a time of it. He’s had some torrid experiences in an international shirt, and frequently come off second best to, well, Dan Parks. This season he finally recovered from a long term injury (that saw him miss another World Cup) only to find he’s stuck behind a 19 year old and a scrum half in the pecking order for Edinburgh’s 10 shirt. Never mind Scotland’s 10 shirt. But on Saturday he came on as a sub and kicked the winning drop goal that one imagines would earn forgiveness in the hearts of many an Edinburgh fan for the odd hospital pass or run up a blind alley over the years.

Afterwards he was swamped by his team-mates and looked fairly bewildered by it all in his borrowed-scrum cap. Those players are delighted to still be in it, having put in a season’s worth of effort to get where Edinburgh sit: atop their pool. Phil may not have been much involved in the campaign to this point, but he’s been working hard to get fit and is a big part of it now.

That’s right folks: it’s Round Six of the Heineken Cup Pool stages, and Edinburgh are still in it.

Although themselves out of the running by Round 5, well-funded and well-supported Racing Metro started ominously with Chabal leading the pack and centre Estabanez making strong runs all through the first half. They clearly did not want to roll over at home. Chabal was a blink away from a try in the corner early on and several moves saw Racing string together brilliant offloads at pace only for that last pass to falter on the rocky shore of Edinburgh’s scramble defence.

Luckily there was direct running from the visitors too, in particular from Talei, Cross and De Luca. If there were no such thing as scrummaging, you’d fancy Jacobsen/Ford/Cross to be the starting Scotland front row with Moray Low injured. As it is, with Euan Murray’s Newcastle struggling, Cross might have just edged into the stronger position.

Blair and Laidlaw were running the game at high pace and looking for opportunities wherever possible, but the most opportunistic moment came when athletic openside Ross Rennie – now a serious challenger to Barclay if he can last the pace – waltzed through a gap that shouldn’t really have been there for a sprint to the tryline.

After Racing tired in the dying moments of that last epic match at Murrayfield, Edinburgh had been running the match at a high tempo from the kickoff hoping for a repeat performance at the end of this one, but Racing stuck with them and matched the Scots try for try, penalty for penalty.

So Steyn cut in under the posts after a great offload from Estabanez in response. Talei stretched for the line on the half hour; Racing almost scored at the other end. After the half time break they made up for it with another dangerous looking spell, Juan Imhoff scoring a great individual try. Anything you can do: Denton scored an equally impressive individual try, followed by one more from Racing.

A couple of penalty kicks later and it was 24-24 going into the dying moments, the lead changing hands almost as often as in a 49ers playoff game.

Until that is, a moment of genius from Laidlaw and Godman. Everyone was expecting the drop goal, but no-one was expecting it from quite that position quite that soon into the move. Racing were caught unawares and Godman struck it from distance quite beautifully to tie up.

Last season, and early this season, it looked like Edinburgh revolved around getting the ball to Tim Visser (or Chunk) and allowing him to batter over the line. This season it has been extremely gratifying to see Edinburgh develop some depth and make substitutions (mostly) for good reasons.

Their game plan now revolves around a back-row unit of the highest quality, a plucky figure in the 10 shirt and a little general at scrum half.

Just not always the same ones.

Neutral tone. Job at hand. You’re being asked about whether you feel the pressure of scoring tries. Answer. Be honest.

“No”.

Good start Greig. Go on.

“The pressure is on us to win and if we win then we are in a good position. If we focus too much on tries then we might lose sight of the bigger picture.

“When the attack is right we do well and Edinburgh have to play the way Edinburgh play. We have loads of confidence in our play, not just because we beat them last time. Attack won’t be the issue. In the last game attack wasn’t the issue. We leaked 47 points. We will have to be right defensively”.

Nicely done. Ignore the house phone going in the background. Next job.

“Of course we respect Racing after that game. But not just certain players, we respect the whole team. They’ve got a lot of World Class guys. Look at Chabal. Look at Hernandez. Francois Steyn might even be in the mix this weekend.

“We need to perform against them. You’re right, we played poorly against Ulster and we lost. We lost like that because of performance, and if we go into Friday’s game against Racing with the same frame of mind  we will come out with the same result.

“We will also have to play rugby. If we head there and try to grind out a win then we won’t get that performance, and we won’t play like Edinburgh play. Yeah, I’m confident,” –why is he asking about me? It’s about the team, get him back onto the team – “but it’s about getting the consistency level. We were poor last Friday night. We need a big performance. We really need to get this one. Cardiff will do what Cardiff do. It’s this one”.

Pause. “Oh definitely.” Ah. A different way of asking about you. “You’ve always got a point to prove when you play. Yes I was disappointed not to be involved with Scotland in the World Cup and I want to play for Scotland. I have big ambition”.

The pace is picking up here. Would you rather play 9 or 10? Was that a laugh?

“Yeah. Stick a number on my back and if I’m the best in that position I’ll play.”

A flash of navy blue. You think about it. It isn’t just about you, though. You know you are leading other people and you represent Edinburgh rugby. Maybe sometimes you should promote yourself a bit more, but that isn’t even a thought for you normally. That’s why you’re a good leader. You calm a bit. It’s not time to think of 6 Nations, just like it’s not time to play Racing. Not yet. There’s a day of travelling as of tomorrow. You push Friday’s first kick to the back of your mind, alongside the thoughts of Scotland. There, but blurry. Like the TV. Like the match day pants in your eyeline.

“Are the likes of Lee Jones and David Denton expected to raise their performance after being selected for the Scotland squad? I don’t think they can- they’ve been playing well all season.

“Lee Jones has been frustrated in the last couple of weeks because we haven’t been going to him and he hasn’t been getting the ball in his hands. But he is dangerous. He can cause Racing problems and we will be looking to use him as much as we can on Friday.

“As for Denton: he has been magnificent for us. He will be up for it and I know he’ll want to be taking on their back-row…”

You’re done. You’ve conveyed a little of what you want achieved on Friday, but not too much. You want to win, and he definitely knows that from listening to you. Maybe he wanted to know more about how significant this game was in terms of the whole season but he never asked in the end. You even said goodbye the way you planned.

You’d love to kick it like that agai-

No, no, no. Next job.

What the hell where you looking for, again…?

Here’s the team to face Racing Metro ’92:

15 Chris Paterson

14 Lee Jones
13 Nick De Luca
12 Matt Scott
11 Tim Visser

10 Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN
9 Mike Blair

1 Allan Jacobsen
2 Ross Ford
3 Geoff Cross
4 Grant Gilchrist
5 Sean Cox
6 David Denton
7 Ross Rennie
8 Netani Talei

Substitutes
16 Alun Walker
17 Kyle Traynor
18 Jack Gilding
19 Esteban Lozada
20 Roddy Grant
21 Phil Godman
22 Tom Brown
23 Jim Thompson

Image courtesy of PA and Edinburgh Rugby.

It is, however, not as simple as that. Racing are coming off one away defeat to Montpellier and an ugly draw in Perpignan. They lie 6th equal in the league and remain a shadow of the team they were last year. The fans are beginning to get agitated with the tinkering style of Pierre Berbizier’s selections and the players he remains loyal to, such as Sireli Bobo.

The fans have very high expectations for their club, and rightly so given the money being spent. They certainly do not take the clichéd view of French fans who don’t care about Europe. They absolutely expect to win at home and see no reason why they should lose to a team so lowly as Edinburgh. The players clearly underestimated Edinburgh and that will not be allowed to happen again.

If it is tight going into the final twenty minutes, the pressure of the Colombes crowd will not allow a self-destruction like there was at Murrayfield.

One thing that will lift Racing is the return of Francois Steyn who came off the bench in Perpignan after a long lay-off post-World Cup. He last played for the club in Marseille in the semi-final of the Top 14 where Racing imploded. Francois was by no means perfect but the way he kept his head when all about him were losing theirs, not to mention his sheer endeavour, really warmed him to me. His dishevelled appearance in the Gare St Charles before boarding the TGV back to Paris showed him truly distraught and ready to drown his sorrows. Edinburgh’s penalty count will have to be as low as it has ever been to prevent him leaving his mark on the scoreboard.

Racing’s fixtures in the next month show Edinburgh, Cardiff then two season-defining games against the best teams in France. The first, at home to Toulouse, will be played at the Stade de France. Racing must start showing some form if they want that occasion to be as successful as last year’s, where they very nearly filled the Stade. The second is in the bear-pit of Clermont. If they come away from those two meetings with any points then Racing might just get their swagger back, proving that they can actually keep up with the very best.

If they are to take points off Toulouse and Clermont, however, they must start winning now. The time for finding some form is running out.

Racing may not care about beating Edinburgh in the Heineken Cup, but they most certainly do care about Toulouse and Clermont Auvergne and they do care about winning at Colombes. It is getting to the stage in the season where they can ill afford that traditional French luxury of picking and choosing.

Edinburgh are to replay Racing Metro ’92 this Friday. The last time they met one of the finest ever games of Heineken Cup rugby was played and a lucky few got to know what true excitement looked like at Murrayfield. It was the game that spawned the phrase ‘Edinburgh Globetrotters’. Now, though, those Globetrotters have to make their way to Paris in search of a vital European victory.

Do not be fooled. This is Edinburgh Rugby’s most important game of the season.

Michael Bradley has freely fielded weakened teams in the RaboDirect Pro12. He gave up on the second leg of the 1872 Cup and last week his charges were smashed by Ulster, despite recalling several front-line players. He has previously claimed that there is no First XV at Edinburgh, but now that he has overplayed the significance of the Heineken Cup and his side’s Pro12 form has lacked so much this game becomes must win. If it isn’t won with a return of his more experienced players he will have egg on his face.

So they must go to the extremes. There is no way of knowing whether or not the enigmatic French outfit will be up for this game, but this should have no bearing on how Edinburgh go about their business. With all the usual clichés listed Edinburgh must have good defence, yes, and good set-piece, yes, and take their points, yes, but they must also unleash their most adventurous attacking play. Edinburgh have to remove the shackles and tear into a swashbuckling game plan.

If they do not win, and win heavily, then they allow Cardiff Blues to play a part in their future outcome. They are neck and neck in Pool 2 with the Welsh outfit. A journalist I spoke to last week said that Edinburgh were topping the competition’s weakest pool. They need to stay there in order to have a more favourable draw for the next round, and they are capable of doing so. Cardiff, though, are capable too and Edinburgh need to score big to spread out in front of them.

They look well placed to progress but if the Heineken Cup is more important than the league then Edinburgh should be targeting the top of their pool table.

As for Glasgow, they face a more frightening prospect. They are only just in a playoff position in the Pro12 and their pool in the Heineken Cup is finely balanced. Any one of the four teams could still progress. Glasgow must perform in both remaining games and they start off against Leinster at Firhill. Yes, the same Leinester that have cruised to the top of the Pro12 and invariably kick into a higher gear for a bigger European audience.

Glasgow were blown away last time these two sides met and despite being at home Glasgow will not be favourites. They need to go to their extremes. There will be talk of scoring tries, yes, and making line-breaks, yes, and disrupting set-piece, yes, but really the Warriors must bludgeon their opponents in defence. They must stifle and kill play, because otherwise their classier opponents will offload around them at breakneck speed.

The truth is that Glasgow must hold this game close or it will get away from them, and then they must go to Bath and pull off a win at the Rec. It is doable and Bath are in lowly form right now, but in the Heineken Cup you would not want to be hunting down a victory away from home in the last pool game in order to survive. There may be uncertainty ahead, but Glasgow can make it less of a stress if they get a bonus point at the very least.

Of course they could win and of course they could score tries. However, a realist or a tactician would have to say that Glasgow must stay within 5 points for 80 minutes if they are to have any chance of progressing from Pool 3.

It will be another good weekend for Scottish rugby if Edinburgh are at their positive best and Glasgow are at their negative best. An unprecedented Heineken Cup run beckons if both teams play to their strengths.

Image courtesy of Leinster.

There was excitement from the early seconds, with Montpellier flanker Bost coming off second best in an encounter between his face and Stuart Hogg’s knee. After having a snooze he clearly wanted to carry on, but was also clearly not capable of doing so. Montpellier were forced to reshuffle an already makeshift deck, with most of their firepower sitting on the bench or in the stands. Tomorrow there may be a few players who feel they had been doing a few rounds with Carl Froch in the first half as first Bost, then Arambaru then Fusaro all went down with awkward knocks to the jaw and only the Argentinian was able to stay on the field.

Both kickers missed chances in the blustery conditions, but were marshalled by scrum-halves willing to throw the ball about. Jackson’s shot was probably in Weir’s range, as was the next one he spurned for a kick to touch that subsequently came to nothing.

Shortly thereafter Jackson was unlucky to be (if correctly) judged offside after chasing a mammoth up and under from Rory Lamont that would put him in acres of open space and both sides upped the pace a bit. After half an hour it was still 0-0.

Ryan Wilson came on for the dazed Fusaro but then almost immediately the atmosphere picked up and the home team pushed hard, and patiently worked the ball over wide in the corner. That lapse aside Glasgow looked secure, but handling errors and sloppy kicking meant they hadn’t troubled Montpellier’s 22 at all.

Dewey replaced Hogg at the half – Murchie went to fullback rather than Lamont, which seemed a strange decision – but at least they began with some good ball and earned a penalty. That one was spurned too and the pedestrian attack chosen as an alternative ended in a knock on. When eventually Jackson knocked over a penalty too easy to turn down, they went for a snooze of their own and Montpellier hit straight back to return the margin to 7.

Glasgow had a clear edge in the scrums second half, but Andrew Small didn’t seem to notice. Possibly he had fallen asleep at the mammoth (and inconsistent) pauses he kept leaving between the elements of his scrum countdown. Neither could the Warriors make any use of any of the ball gained via the set piece, with continual errors. Their back play looked almost as forced as Edinburgh’s had looked instinctive the night before. The absence of DTH Van Der Merwe is notable in games like this one.

Glasgow kept turning down kicks as they chased parity on the scoreboard and a period of attack incredibly short of the line saw Bustos yellow carded for handling in the ruck. Kellock went straight for the scrum and Glasgow recycled the ball quickly to Rory Lamont who ran over at the corner.

Yet again though, Glasgow couldn’t hold the momentum despite now only being 3 points adrift and a man up, as they lost their own set piece and Montpellier worked through a powerful rolling maul. Minutes later Glasgow were back on the offensive after the impressive Beattie broke from the scrum and set Cusiter loose but a wide pass from Beattie later in the move undid all his good work and gave back possession. Glasgow upped the pace again but failed to put it through the hands well enough to seal a win.

At 77 minutes they were presented with a real dilemma – take a kickable penalty for the draw at 13-13 or go for a try and the win. Sense prevailed in Kellock and Weir – now on for Jackson – drew Glasgow level for the first time.

Montpellier, stung into action, launched one last attack into drop-goal territory and despite Glasgow’s defence stopping them from taking a shot at it, an offside from Ryan Wilson was caught by the touch judge to give Montpellier a penalty. A draw would have been about right and a loss for Glasgow – poor as they were – something of an injustice, so the Montpellier replacement scrum half duly obliged by scything his kick wide.

SRBlog Man of the Match: Johnnie Beattie

Montpellier: Peyras-Loustalet, Berard, Bosch, Combezou, Audrin, Perraux, Escande, Shvelidze, Ladhuie, Kervarec, Tuineau, Hancke, Bost, Martin, Matadigo
Replacements: Caudullo, Nariashvili, Bustos, Gorgodze, Galletier, Paillaugue, Trinh-Duc, Doumayrou

Glasgow Warriors: Stuart Hogg, Federico Aramburu, Peter Murchie, Troy Nathan, Rory Lamont, Ruaridh Jackson, Chris Cusiter, Ryan Grant, Pat MacArthur, Mike Cusack, Richie Gray, Al Kellock (captain), John Barclay, Chris Fusaro, Johnnie Beattie
Replacements: Dougie Hall, Jon Welsh, Moray Low, Tom Ryder, Ryan Wilson, Henry Pyrgos, Duncan Weir Rob Dewey.

The league’s top try-scorer Tim Visser forced a few too many of the chances that came his way in the first half, but he was on the end of some pretty poor passing as well as a shoulder barge from Cardiff centre Laulala that may not have helped his concentration. The one he did turn into a try was off a pass that was a mile forward from Nick De Luca, but it represented a period when Edinburgh dominated possession if not necessarily territory, and deserved to be ahead in the game.

At stand-off, Greig Laidlaw controlled the first half well and wasn’t afraid to run the ball or tackle anyone. It was almost as if he was offering a direct counterpoint to his Cardiff equivalent Dan Parks, who kicked too much and was protected in defence.

Laidlaw may emerge as a clear challenger to Parks as Scotland’s back-up 10 if he keeps playing like this. Speaking afterwards, he said “the boys dug in really well and we’re delighted with the win, the forwards gave me good options and gave me a good platform. I like short options against a blitz D[efence] when I’m playing ten.”

“We were able to pick them apart quite easily.”

Man of the Match Netani Talei was at the heart of the Edinburgh pack going forward; he was brought in to add ballast after they struggled last week and he did just that, freeing up Roddy Grant to spoil Cardiff ball and keep their hefty pack from running rampant. Overall the defence was a lot more secure than last weekend in Wales.

Parks wasn’t having a horrible game for Cardiff, but was relieved of the kicking duties late on. In fairness the range of the penalty kick in question was more Leigh Halfpenny’s cup of tea, and the Welshman confidently snatched the bonus point.

Parks had the last laugh in the match though, kicking the ball into Murrayfield’s East stand (to resounding boos) after a period of keep-ball that saw Cardiff come away with probably the minimum they would have hoped for.

“Credit to Cardiff for getting the bonus point,” Laidlaw added. “If they couldn’t get a win they would get a bonus point, and they did that.”

Edinburgh Coach Michael Bradley heralded a much improved performance: “The quality of work at the breakdown was much better and we were able to put huge pressure on Cardiff.” That pressure meant that “the rest of our game fell into place for large portions of the match,” he continued.

The win could now see the capital side progress from the pool stages for the first time since 2004.

“3 wins out of 4 in this competition is not a bad start.”

Attendance 4,384

Man of the Match: Netani Talei

Edinburgh: Chris Paterson, Lee Jones, Nick De Luca, James King, Tim Visser, Greig Laidlaw (capt), Mike Blair, Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford, Geoff Cross, Grant Gilchrist, Sean Cox, David Denton, Roddy Grant, Netani Talei.
Replacements: Steven Lawrie, Kyle Traynor, Jack Gilding, Esteban Lozada, Ross Rennie, Phil Godman, Matt Scott, Tom Brown.

Cardiff Blues: Leigh Halfpenny; Gavin Evans, Casey Laulala, Jamie Roberts, Chris Czekaj; Dan Parks, Lloyd Williams; Gethin Jenkins, Rhys Thomas, Taufa’ao Filise, Bradley Davies, Paul Tito (capt), Michael Paterson, Sam Warburton, Xavier Rush.
Replacements: Ryan Tyrell, John Yapp, Scott Andrews, Josh Navidi, Maama Molitika, Richie Rees, Ceri Sweeney, Dafydd Hewitt.

Lining up to face him and Dan Parks – who the Cardiff coaching team were forced to defend this week after local fans grumbled when he, um, kicked them to victory – Edinburgh have picked, well, a squad. There will probably be an actual team announcement later in the week, but for now how about some speculation?

Youngster Harry Leonard was pulled at half time last week when he seemed unable to cope with the flying defence of Cardiff, so will he be given the nod when the Blues are unlikely to alter a successful plan much? The alternatives are Phil Godman and Greig Laidlaw, who probably had his first sputter of the season when he was unable to spark another famous comeback. I’d go with Laidlaw who has looked the most accomplished but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Godman on the bench in place of Leonard. harsh, but Bradley may not want to take chances. Of course you could argue that Godman’s lack of game time is in itself a chance but he has slotted in nicely off the bench so far. Even if he does love throwing the sort of pass that Cardiff’s centres would eat up.

Certain sections pick themselves (front row, wings) and I suspect Talei will be brought in to combat a bit of Cardiff’s southern-hemisphere ballast. Denton has had some great performances and should be given a run at 8 where he can make the most impact and where (whisper it) options could be seen as thin for Scotland currently. Roddy Grant has probably been the better – certainly the most tireless – of the proper 7s thus far but Rennie will almost certainly make the bench, where we will need plenty of youth and zip as those old blue heads tire running about on the big pitch. Here is who I would pick:

My Edinburgh XV to face Cardiff: Paterson, Visser, De Luca, Scott, Jones, Laidlaw (c), Blair, Denton, Grant, Talei, Cox, Lozada, Cross, Ford, Jacobsen

Potential Bench: Traynor, Lawrie, Gilding, Gilchrist, Rennie/McInally, Godman, James King, Thompson/Brown

Thoughts, anyone? Cardiff got a bonus point last time they came to Murrayfield, but hopefully the new trackside fans will be so intimidating that they will come unstuck and Edinburgh can get their European season back on track.

Murrayfield, Friday, k.o. 8pm

26 Man Squad: Mike Blair, Tom Brown, Sean Cox, Geoff Cross, Nick De Luca, David Denton, Ross Ford, Grant Gilchrist, Jack Gilding, Phil Godman, Roddy Grant, Allan Jacobsen, Lee Jones, James King, Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN, Steven Lawrie, Harry Leonard, Esteban Lozada, Stuart McInally, Chris Paterson, Ross Rennie, Matt Scott, Netani Talei, Jim Thompson, Kyle Traynor, Tim Visser

The match is on Sky Sports via red button, plus highlights on S4C (in Welsh) at 10pm.

Congratulations also to the winner of our Dove Men+Care competition to win 6 tickets to the game: Louise Forsyth. Enoy the game!

In this country we like to cling onto good feelings. That’s why we have a whole month of Christmas. Unfortunately for visitors Montpellier they did not find hosts Glasgow in a festive mood as they went down in their third round Heineken Cup match at Firhill despite outscoring the Warriors by two tries to one. Duncan Weir and Ruaridh Jackson kicked a couple of long-range crackers to edge the contest and put them into second in the group.

In keeping with this time of year it was a performance of Beauty and the Beast.

The first major incident in this contest was a mid-air tackle by winger Berard on Glasgow’s Aramburu. As pantomime boos rang out from the 5,287 spectators referee Greg Garner produced his first yellow card of the day. Shortly afterwards Duncan Weir kicked his first penalty of the afternoon. Winger Bustos Moyano kicked his own for Montpellier before Weir pulled back another, following stray hands, to make it 6-3 with 21 minutes played.

After this Montpellier deployed their muscular scrum. Despite missing star turns like Fulgence Ouedraogo and Mamuka Gorgodze in their pack they could still boast a few gnarled Georgian props and their stodgy set piece lent on Glasgow 5m out. After several scrums collapsed and a yellow card was flashed at loose-head Jon Welsh it looked like a penalty try was forthcoming. However, with a favourable turn scrum-half Eric Escande only had to look at the gap in front of him and he was over for the score. Bustos Moyano converted easily. 6-10.

It looked like Glasgow would be subjected to a long stint of Georgian torture as the French side fumbled around trying to score more. The home team have proven themselves mulish thus far this season, though, and in Duncan Weir they have a stand-off capable of kicking the ball from well within his own half. Twice he boomed out kicks from 50 yards plus, and twice they were met with raised flags. The powerful boot of Weir gave Glasgow an unlikely, and possibly undeserved, 12-10 lead at the interval.

Words must have been said because in the second half things snapped into life. Despite one fan screaming out “Is it warm enough for you, Rory?!” the winger finally got his hands on the ball and his jostling frame through tackles. Behind him Stuart Hogg had decided to take some risks, too, and the young borderer threw himself into lines and at areas Montpellier looked at a loss to consider.

The full-back beat his opposite man a couple of times and at one point darted in to create a two on one. With the line begging the full-back only had to slip a pass left to Duncan Weir and they would have been in, but Hogg hesitated and was snared by the cover. Weir shot a few choice words at his teammate and the game restarted.

It restarted without Weir, though. He and Wilson took their leave for Jackson and Fusaro. A few revellers looked about, confused at this decision, but before a criticism could be voiced or a negative prediction heard Jackson calmed everyone down with a long-range penalty of his own to take the game to 15-10.

Jackson added an extra pace to the game and with Richie Gray carrying forcefully and Harley and Barclay smashing competitors out of the rucks it was a game certain to cough up another try. When it did so it was therefore no surprise that it came from a neat pass from Jackson finding a racing Hogg who straightened, trapped a defender and put Aramburu over for a lovely try in the bottom corner.

The conversion was missed but by that point it was almost certain that Glasgow would win. Lazy kicking options turned over ball and Montpellier substitute Matadigo was allowed a track into the scoring zone for one last try but regardless of the kick –which was missed –Glasgow won their last home game before Christmas 20-15.

After the final whistle there was a sense of confidence and a stench of effort around Firhill.

“We are just getting these wins, and had we kept the ball a bit longer we could have perhaps scored another couple of tries” Sean Lineen said. “But this is a fantastic win and we go to Montpellier, who are a fantastic team, with their players back from the World Cup, and it will be a great match.”

The win is indeed fantastic and it keeps the hopes of group progression alive. However, down in France, with the likes of Trinh-Duc, Ouedraogo and Gorgodze back it could be a much more brutal game. Glasgow struggled with a scrum made up of parts –all be it ugly, grimacing, bulging parts –and they will need to be on their mettle to repeat this result. They will also need similarly impressive performances from the likes of Cusiter and Harley and they may need a bit more from internationals Kellock and Lamont. Behind them all Stuart Hogg looks talented and in the mood.

Glasgow Warriors: Hogg; Aramburu, Murchie, Morrison, Lamont; weir, Cusiter; Welsh, MacArthur, Cusack, Gray, Kellock, Harley, Barclay, Wilson.
Subs: Hall, Grant, Kalman, Ryder, Fusaro, Pyrgos, Nathan, Jackson.

Montpellier Herault: Peyras Loustalet; Berard, Bosch, Combezou, Bustos Moyano; Fernandez, Escande; Shvelidze, Ladhuie, Jgenti, Tuineau, Hancke, Bost, Martin, Tulou.
Subs: Caudullo, Narashvili, Kervarec, Matadigo, Galletier, Paillaugue, Gonzales Amorosino, Perraux.