Edinburgh Rugby v Ulster Rugby
Date: Fri 12th April 2019
KO: 19:35
Venue: BT Murrayfield
Is this the strongest Edinburgh starting XV possible without Blair Kinghorn? It certainly looks pretty close to it, with a starting centre pair of Scott and Bennett (at last) and Magnus Bradbury swapping for John Barclay. This gives the benefit of more experience off the bench whilst seeing what the destructive Bradbury can do from the start of a game.
It’s another against playoff challengers Ulster. Munster, still in Europe and safe over in second place in conference A with a 12 point cushion on Connacht, have named a second string to visit Treviso which won’t make Edinburgh’s task any easier. Currently Treviso, Ulster and Edinburgh are all competing for the 2nd and 3rd spots in Conference B.
In short, another win is really the minimum required to keep their fate in their own hands going into the final round. A try bonus as Glasgow managed against Ulster last weekend would, naturally, give them the strongest position from which to qualify.
Edinburgh Rugby: Darcy Graham, Damien Hoyland, Mark Bennett, Matt Scott, Duhan van der Merwe, Jaco van der Walt, Henry Pyrgos; Pierre Schoeman, Stuart McInally, Willem Nel, Ben Toolis, Grant Gilchrist, Magnus Bradbury, Hamish Watson, Viliame Mata.
Replacements: Ross Ford, Allan Dell, Simon Berghan, Callum Hunter-Hill, John Barclay, Charlie Shiel, Simon Hickey, George Taylor.
Ulster Rugby: Jacob Stockdale, Robert Baloucoune, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Rob Lyttle, Billy Burns, John Cooney, Eric O’Sullivan, Rob Herring, Marty Moore, Iain Henderson, Kieran Treadwell, Nick Timoney, Jordi Murphy, Marcell Coetzee.
Replacements: John Andrew, Andy Warwick, Ross Kane, Alan O’Connor, Sean Reidy, Dave Shanahan, Peter Nelson, Angus Kernohan.
Referee: Nigel Owens
Leinster Rugby v Glasgow Warriors
Date: Sat 13th April 2019
KO: 15:00
Venue: RDS Arena
The permutations for Glasgow are less complex, although they’re in the hunt for a home semi-final spot and a week having already made the playoffs (see tweet below from Kevin).
Glasgow not won at the RDS in a very long time, but a win on Saturday would go a good way towards securing that home playoff that the Warriors would dearly love – and possibly taking the pressure off the final round a little especially if Munster lose (although that hurts Edinburgh in turn).
Huw Jones returns to the bench for the first game since the Six Nations and elsewhere it is a similar strength of team to the one that dispatched Ulster in style last week. Jonny Gray reacted well to being dropped – let’s hope that reaction continues in a positive vein this week as he and both Fagersons were superb in round 19.
Leinster don’t have their top team out but it’s still a strong unit with a handy looking replacement front row, and like all the Irish sides they are always a tough nut to crack at home.
Leinster Rugby: Rob Kearney, Jordan Larmour, Joe Tomane, Robbie Henshaw, Dave Kearney, Ross Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Ed Byrne, James Tracy, Michael Bent, Devin Toner, Jack Dunne, Josh Murphy, Sean O’Brien, Caelan Doris.
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Cian Healy, Tadhg Furlong, Will Connors, Max Deegan, Hugh O’Sullivan, Ciaran Frawley, Adam Byrne.
Glasgow Warriors: Stuart Hogg, Tommy Seymour, Kyle Steyn, Sam Johnson, Nikola Matawalu, Adam Hastings, Ali Price; Jamie Bhatti, Fraser Brown, Zander Fagerson, Scott Cummings, Jonny Gray, Rob Harley, Chris Fusaro, Matt Fagerson.
Replacements: Grant Stewart, Alex Allan, D’arcy Rae, Bruce Flockhart, Adam Ashe, George Horne, Pete Horne, Huw Jones.
Referee: Marius Mitrea
Unavailable players: Callum Gibbins (head), Nick Grigg (ankle), Siua Halanukonuka (shoulder), Lee Jones (knee), Oli Kebble (back), Matt Smith (shoulder), Tim Swinson (ankle), George Turner (head), DTH van der Merwe (shoulder) and Ryan Wilson (knee).