Edinburgh Rugby v Glasgow Warriors
Date: Sat 28th December 2019
KO: 15:00
Venue: BT Murrayfield
Having secured the win fairly late in proceedings at Scotstoun, Glasgow travel to BT Murrayfield for the second leg with a minor spring in their step.
Neither side has made major changes from the teams that made such an uninspiring spectacle of the first leg.
Matt Scott returns from injury to sit the bench for Edinburgh while Nic Groom gets a chance to start at 9. Mark Bennett – who, along with Luke Crosbie and Lewis Carmichael announced new deals of unspecified length over the Christmas break – will again partner George Taylor in midfield.
In a slight change of selection policy from last season, Simon Hickey keeps the ten shirt rather than rotating with van der Walt, now that we’re starting to see a little more from the kiwi standoff.
With Tommy Seymour nursing a knock to the head, Ratu Tagive comes in to the wing for Glasgow but unusually Dave Rennie shows faith in the midfield pairing of Johnson and Jones – Jones repaid that faith last week with a decisive role in the key try for Ali Price and a decent all round showing.
Up front, Oli Kebble is the only change to the pack, with his front row partners Fraser Brown and Zander Fagerson having given their Edinburgh counterparts a torrid time last time out they’ll be hoping for more of the same. Perhaps in response, WP Nel is restored to Edinburgh’s starting XV having missed out altogether last week. Last weekend’s starting tighthead, Pietro Ceccarelli, is absent from the 23 and not listed among the injured; make of that what you will.
Hoepfully this week, there will be fewer yellow cards. You never know, there might even be some rugby.
Edinburgh Rugby: Blair Kinghorn, Darcy Graham, Mark Bennett, George Taylor, Duhan van der Merwe, Simon Hickey, Nic Groom; Pierre Schoeman, Stuart McInally, Willem Nel, Ben Toolis, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie, Hamish Watson, Viliame Mata.
Replacements: Mike Willemse, Jamie Bhatti, Simon Berghan, Lewis Carmichael, Magnus Bradbury, Henry Pyrgos, Jaco van der Walt, Matt Scott.
Glasgow Warriors: Ruaridh Jackson, Ratu Tagive, Huw Jones, Sam Johnson, DTH van der Merwe, Adam Hastings, Ali Price; Oli Kebble, Fraser Brown, Zander Fagerson, Scott Cummings, Jonny Gray, Rob Harley, Callum Gibbins, Ryan Wilson.
Replacements: George Turner, Aki Seiuli, Adam Nicol, Adam Ashe, Tom Gordon, George Horne, Nick Grigg, Nikola Matawalu,
Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)
Edinburgh unavailable: Chris Dean, Luke Crosbie, Fraser McKenzie, Jack Stanley, John Barclay
Glasgow unavailable: Siua Halanukonuka (calf), Sean Kennedy (shoulder), Kiran McDonald (hip), Robbie Nairn (knee), D’arcy Rae (hand), Tommy Seymour (head) and Brandon Thomson (calf).
PRO14 Exiles: our sole exile, Blade Thomson, has been upgraded to a starting slot for the Scarlets.