Phil Godman will captain a shadow Edinburgh side against Glasgow today and he believes it is a real chance for career redemption

It feels like forever but it was only two years and two months ago that Andy Robinson sent out his first Scotland XV to play Fiji on 14 November, 2009.

Not only did the run-on side include Phil Godman but, ahead of the general team announcement, the coach had trumpeted to the press that the little stand-off was a cast-iron certainty, a shoo-in for the No.10 shirt. But professional sport can be a cruel business and, barring an outbreak of bubonic plague at Murrayfield, Godman is now certain to appear nowhere other than the West Stand when England arrive at Murrayfield in one month’s time.

Instead of a mark of quality, his appearance in Edinburgh’s team for the second leg of the 1872 Cup against Glasgow Warriors this evening is confirmation that this is Edinburgh’s back-up squad, the bagmen, the dirt-trackers.

Godman has been missing for so long that there were those who thought he might never return. In reality he has spent much of the last 14 months in and around the Edinburgh physio’s room after he comprehensively kyboshed the ligaments in his right knee. After being sidelined for so long that he could have mastered Mandarin, Godman’s appearances this season have been restricted to just two starts with another two showings off the bench.

So far he has seven league points to his name for the season which is 106 fewer than the man he replaces, Greig Laidlaw, and 129 fewer than his opposite number today. Glasgow’s young playmaker Duncan Weir leads the RaboDirect tally with a try, two drop goals, seven conversions and a handy 37 penalties.

From being a dead cert to start Andy Robinson’s first Scotland Test, Godman has slipped to somewhere near the bottom of the Edinburgh Rugby food chain after the emergence of a slew of good youngsters at the club who are supplementing and supporting Laidlaw’s versatility. Gregor Hunter and Harry Leonard may be apprentices but they both have more game time under their belts than Godman can claim this season, despite his 23 caps.

He’s been here before. Written off only to dig into reserves of surprising resilience, bounce back and proved everyone wrong. He has it all to do again and Godman appears hell bent on shrugging off his lowly status and stuffing it down everyone’s throat. Not that he puts it quite in those terms.

“I’ve got an opportunity,” says the stand-off ahead of today’s Firhill clash, which sees the sides locked at 23-23 after a draw at Murrayfield, secured by a last-gasp try for the visitors’ Ruaridh Jackson.

“Hopefully, I’ll take it and get a run of games because that’s what I need,” added Godman.

“This is a game that we think we can very much win, that’s the message we’ve been getting. We’re going over there to Firhill and it’ll be a real battle. It’s a tough ask but I think we’ve got a good chance.

“There are guys who haven’t played for a while but, if you look at our teamsheet, it’s still a fairly strong side compared to Glasgow’s. I don’t think there is too much in it. We’ve certainly not given up on this game.”

At this point, there is a temptation to ask Godman to share his excellent recreational drugs.

This is an inter-city derby so anything can happen (and probably will) but Glasgow have lost just once in their last 11 outings and they will not want to tarnish that impressive record by finishing second to Edinburgh’s second string side.

The danger is that Edinburgh’s untested and untried team get a good old-fashioned cuffing this afternoon. Just reward, some might say, for undermining the one pro-team fixture that generates genuine excitement among the rugby public in Scotland, not that Godman is among them.

“We are targeting the Heineken Cup,” he admits, revealing what everyone already knows.

“We’ve got a very good chance of getting into the quarter-finals with two big games ahead.

“But this team was named a while ago and it’s a game that we are still targeting. If we front up I think it’s going to be a close game.”

Godman is just one of several players who have been pretty much outcasts during coach Michael Bradley’s tenure, although many have also been nursing long-term injuries.

Jim Thompson gets another chance to impress at full-back, winger Simon Webster needs to prove he can still tear up the wide spaces, inside centre John Houston has started just one match all season and Alan MacDonald, like Godman, was starting for Scotland just two years ago so the flanker will want to make his mark against the feisty Chris Fusaro.

The interesting selection in both teams this afternoon is at outside centre. It remains a problem position for Scotland so, while it may not be of immediate interest to Andy Robinson, Edinburgh’s Matt Scott and Glasgow’s Stuart Hogg can both put a marker down for the future.

Frank Hadden picked a reserve Scotland side against the All Blacks at the 2007 World Cup to ensure his A-team was fresh for the must-win Italy match and the then Scotland coach was widely pilloried, despite subsequently reaching the quarter-finals.

Michael Bradley has done something similar for exactly the same reasons. His team retains an active interest in the Heineken Cup but has little or no chance of making the RaboDirect end-of-season play-offs.

To be fair, the Edinburgh coach did not attempt to sugar-coat the pill too much. This is professional sport and the proof of Bradley’s actions won’t be evident until the 13 January Heineken Cup match against Racing Metro 92 in Paris.

If his Edinburgh side win that one and reach the knockout stages of Europe’s premier competition for only the second time, no one will care what team he sent out against Glasgow.

If Edinburgh fail in Europe, the Irishman will be remembered as the man who devalued the derby.

Sport can be a cruel business, as Godman knows.

“I’ve been in professional rugby for quite a while and things change pretty quickly,” said Godman. “I could be sitting here next week with the picture looking a lot different. It’s about me being the best prepared as I can be and playing well on the day.

“If I do that I know that the rest will take care of itself, looking at Edinburgh or looking at the international scene as well because I have big aspirations to get back into the fold there.”

This may sound like the drugs talking again but, in the unlikely event that Godman can somehow lead his team of Edinburgh misfits to a famous win today, then who is to say the stand-off’s international career is behind him?