BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh
KO 19:35 UK
Edinburgh will head in to their first-ever PRO14 Semi-Final at all but full strength as Ben Toolis, Grant Gilchrist and Jamie Ritchie should all make first appearances since the Covid enforced break.
Back from injury, Ritchie is on the bench to bolster a strong starting back row unit and joins Pierre Schoeman in offering some late-stage impact around the park.
Gilchrist and Toolis drop straight into the starting lineup with the former making his 150th Edinburgh appearance.
If we’re good enough we’ll win, and if we’re not, we’ll get exactly what we deserve.
Richard Cockerill, Edinburgh Head Coach
On paper this team looks good enough to haul down a strong Ulster side with a few familiar faces in their coaching ranks, but memories of tlast week’s stuttering loss to Glasgow will hopefully be banished from Edinburgh’s minds as they take on one of the biggest games in their history.
Edinburgh Rugby: Blair Kinghorn; Darcy Graham, Mark Bennett, Chris Dean; Duhan van der Merwe; Jaco van der Walt, Nic Groom; Rory Sutherland, Stuart McInally (Capt), WP Nel; Ben Toolis, Grant Gilchrist; Magnus Bradbury, Hamish Watson, Viliame Mata.
Replacements: Mike Willemse, Pierre Schoeman, Simon Berghan, Andrew Davidson, Jamie Ritchie, Charlie Shiel, Nathan Chamberlain, George Taylor.
Ulster Rugby: Jacob Stockdale, Louis Ludik, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Rob Lyttle, Billy Burns (Capt), John Cooney; Eric O’Sullivan, Rob Herring, Tom O’Toole, Alan O’Connor, Sam Carter, Matthew Rea, Jordi Murphy, Marcell Coetzee.
Replacements: John Andrew, Jack McGrath, Marty Moore, Kieran Treadwell, Sean Reidy, Alby Mathewson, Ian Madigan, Michael Lowry.
Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU)
22 responses
Man-for-man, Edinburgh look stronger across the 23. If they avoid the yips, they should win this. All about the psychology.
John Cooney is the key for Ulster on my view. An aggressive suppression strategy needed to keep him on the back foot. Also no cheap ball for Stockdale, so kicking needs to be on point.
Bradbury has everything to be a top class player (well probably not everything as he has not stepped up to the top class plate on any consistent basis) big call to drop Crosbie, as Analyst correctly states above Cooney is the key, I’d rather have Crosbie “at him”…….. selection makes it even more interesting not to have Matt Scott still @ Edinburgh… ,,,,,,
Irish sponsor , Irish opposition and Irish referee. I think the best team is Scottish ,but that has to be a strain, on Frank Murphy.
You forgot to mention Irish broadcaster. How much pressure for an all Irish final? Although the smart money is probably on Leinster no matter who wins this game.
I really hope Edinburgh can win tonight, they’ve definitely got the team to do it. Good luck boys!
Edinburgh have left three tries out there already. Please lads, finish them off in the second half. You’re the better team!
I believe you said they were chokers before the game , make your mind up!
Then I gave examples of them choking. What contradiction do you think you’re seeing? I want them to win. I always want them to win when they’re not playing Glasgow (and sometimes when they are, e.g. in the penultimate round this year), but they choke. Hopefully they’ve put that behind them.
Hope the ref enjoys his bonus from the irfu
I am disgusted by Frank Murphy’s refereeing tonight. Yes, Edinburgh blew three tries in the first half, but that doesn’t excuse Murphy’s awful – at the very least questionable – performance in the second half. Sickening.
Seriously though, why isn’t there a ruling that a ref cannot be from same country as one of the teams? Football doesn’t allow it so why can’t rugby????
I have no idea. Murphy’s a terrible ref anyway, but to ignore a blatant and dangerous neck roll on Graham, then to award a penalty to Ulster for not rolling (when Ulster have done that all night) and then for them to score is shady in the extreme. And that’s just one example. One advantage of a B&I league would be reduced influence of the Irish, that’s for sure.
Can we be specific about Murphy’s bad decisions ? I thought we never got a few 50/50’s but it was hardly a Joubert performance.That was a brilliant advert for rugby but we lost.
I thought Murphy was pretty terrible as per, but for both teams and didn’t seem to have a favourite. Sort of evened out as I don’t think the reffing had much impact on the result.
Edinburgh ran out of steam in final quarter and Ulster were very shrewd with their bench options. Unlucky but a self inflicted defeat
Not often you see an interception any more as players too scared of giving the penalty. Decision may have been technically correct but it’s a poor way to decide a semi final. Having an Irish referee was an unbelievably stupid decision but Edinburgh can’t expect to play the entire second half in their own half and win. Very disappointing performance. Has Cockerill reached his level?
Was this the first game for Toolis and Gilchrist? If so, why???? No match fitness or hardness !!!!
I was just about to say similar Rob. The last quarter was going to be all about fitness and while Gilchrist was fit, he lost his focus. Edinburgh needed McInally’s leadership in the last quarter. Let’s hope Ulster go on and win it.
Very poor from Edinburgh. I had a bad feeling they were going to throw it away from the moment Chris Dean aimlessly kicked away a penalty advantage for them to run back and score their first points. He took his try well, but he should have also put Bennett through right before the half.
What’s happened to Bill Mata? He used to be way more influential. With the pack that Edinburgh has (and the wingers) they should be winning games like that comfortably without the need to look for neutral refereeing.
Coetzee was the best 8 on the pitch. Edinburgh broke the line a lot, just lacked finishing.
Believe 3 tries went begging!!!!! Simple pass to supporting player was all that was needed each time
Watched live from Sydney, Australia. Rugbypass stream froze just after Dean’s try. Luckily.