Scottish Rugby Blog

Scottish Rugby News and Opinion

Search

PRO14 Round 10: Southern Kings vs Edinburgh

Southern Kings vs Edinburgh
© Scottish Rugby Blog

Richard Cockerill is able to call on a number of players returning from Scotland duty as reinforcements for the second leg of the tour to South Africa.

Newly capped Phil Burleigh starts in the centre alongside James Johnstone in a backline that was largely untroubled by international selection. This leaves something for them to prove, hopefully. Still no news on Mark Bennett’s return – suggested to be December – but Johnstone has been filling in nicely in the spritely and rapid 13 role Bennett will hope to make his own before long.

In the pack Simon Berghan is thrown straight back into the front row along side Neil Cochrane (sadly not capped) and Rory Sutherland, who will be understandably keen to climb to the top rung of the very crowded ladder of International looseheads now at Edinburgh. Grant Gilchrist and Cornell du Preez also featured for Scotland as recently as last weekend and slot back in right away.

Cockerill will be hoping that the good vibes generated by a hugely successful (but not perfect) autumn for Scotland reveberate around his Edinburgh squad, which is definitely on the up-turn but haven’t had their troubles to seek off the field. Ruthlessness is something Scotland and Edinburgh have traditionally lacked over recent years. You can see why he wanted to bring Barclay home.

Fijian international Viliame Mata is joined by Jamie Ritchie and du Preez in the back row. With news now that John Hardie will be suspended until at least mid-January, Ritchie will probably be used to fill in at openside when Hamish Watson is rested after his autumn exertions.  With Luke Crosbie also impressing in recent appearances the back row will be pretty busy next season if everyone is fit and stays with the club: Barclay, Hardie, Watson, Ritchie, Bradbury, Du Preez plus Crosbie if he gets a contract.

Still, it would be a nice problem for Cockers to have.

With a loss to the Cheetahs last weekend, Edinburgh will be looking to salvage something other than an unseasonal tan before their return to the cold embrace of the capital and with the boost in resources should hopefully have enough to cope with the Kings.

Edinburgh: 15. Blair Kinghorn, 14. Dougie Fife, 13. James Johnstone, 12. Phil Burleigh, 11. Duhan van der Merwe, 10. Jaco van der Walt, 9. Nathan Fowles; 1. Rory Sutherland, 2. Neil Cochrane, 3. Simon Berghan, 4. Fraser McKenzie (Capt), 5. Grant Gilchrist, 6. Viliame Mata, 7. Jamie Ritchie, 8. Cornell du Preez.

Replacements: 16 Cameron Fenton, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Ben Toolis, 20 Luke Crosbie, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Chris Dean, 23 Glenn Bryce

Southern Kings: Yaw Penxe / Masixole Banda; Michael Makase, Harlon Klassen, Berton Klaasen, Volmink Anthonie / Bock Alshaun; Kurt Coleman, Rudi van Rooyen; Schalk Ferreira (capt), Stephan Coetzee, Rossouw de Klerk; Stephan Greeff, Bobby de Wee; Andisa Ntsila, Martinus Burger, Ruaan Lerm.

Replacements: Alandre van Rooyen, Luvuyo Pupuma, Pieter Scholtz, Lubabalo Mtyanda, Dries van Schalkwyk, Godlen Masimla, Barend Janse van Rensburg, Jacques Nel

At Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Friday 1 December (kick-off 7.15pm local time / 5.15pm GMT). No word on TV Coverage.

5 Responses

  1. That team looks solid.

    Good to see us start to build something that looks like a squad. Amazing how quickly it has come together under Cockerill.

  2. Good win from the chaps tonight by the looks of things. Good to see SHC getting back into the thick of things with a hat trick, too.

    1. Also good to see that one more win this season will give Edinburgh more league points than they finished with last season, and they’ve already won as many games so far this season as they did all last season! They may not be getting the attention and acclaim that Glasgow are, but I think it’s safe to say that Cockers has got them improving steadily, and I can see them ending Warriors’ unbeaten run on the 23rd.

      1. As a Warriors fan, I think this is a possibility.
        Glasgow are playing really well, but so are Edinburgh. Either way, both 1872 matches will be interesting, I think. It’s good for the game here to see Edinburgh getting success and playing well. It means players go into Scotland squads with a winning habit.

  3. Edinburgh looked fairly solid. It was basically a training run the defence was that weak from the Kings.

    1872 will be some contest up front, both packs are evenly matched. Crosbie again looked good when we came on. Mata is so fast as well. Bradbury should struggle to get back into the team now I reckon, which shows the depth at back row they have.

You might also like these:

Scotland overturned a run of narrow defeats against Wales to come away with a first win in Cardiff since 2004 and seven test victories in a row for the first time in their history. Here's Eleanor with the talking points.
Give us your thoughts on the game as Scotland visit Cardiff Arms Park for the tournament opener.
Jonny is joined by Craig, Iain and Rory to review how the Men's and Under-20's Six Nations went for Scotland, as well as looking forward to the upcoming Women's 6 Nations tournament and rounding up the latest Scottish rugby news.
Give us your thoughts on the game as Scotland visit Dublin on St Patrick's Day weekend.

Scottish Rugby News and Opinion

Search