Southwell's future at Edinburgh in doubt

Published on Wednesday 15 April 2009 22:50

EDINBURGH'S bid to strengthen their squad with youthful vitality was evident yesterday when they announced the re-signing of flanker Alan MacDonald as it emerged that Hugo Southwell could be leaving the capital club this summer.

Southwell made a brief 48th Test appearance against England last month, being knocked out for several minutes and suffering severe concussion in a tackle shortly after coming off the bench in the final stages of the Twickenham defeat. The Scotland full-back has now fully recovered from the injury, but with Edinburgh having beaten Connacht and Cardiff in recent weeks, he has been left out of the 22 for tomorrow's Magners League match with a shadow Leinster side at Murrayfield.

The Scotsman understands that with his contract up this summer, Southwell is poised to end a six-year stay in the capital and confirm a move away from Scotland. The 28-year-old was unavailable for comment, but even with Chris Paterson and Jim Thompson also vying for the no15 jersey, Southwell, whose form has risen markedly in the past two years, will prove a significant loss.

MacDonald's decision to agree to a three-year extension of his contract follows on the heels of the signing of Roddy Grant for Edinburgh, which will intensify competition for the back row places at Murrayfield. Ross Rennie is due to return this summer from a lengthy injury lay-off, as are Fraser McKenzie and Dave Callam, and coach Andy Robinson yesterday spoke highly of the progress made by Scott Newlands, the blindside flanker from Kelso. All of that points to a desire to develop younger talents more quickly, but where they will all find regular game-time remains a thorny issue.

Of more immediate concern to Robinson and his squad, however, is the visit of a Leinster side whose hopes of catching league leaders Munster are now playing second fiddle to their bid for a first-ever Heineken Cup final appearance – they face Munster in a fortnight in the semi-finals. After the bruising win over Harlequins in Sunday's quarter-final they have rested 13 of the starting line-up, only centre Gordon D'Arcy and skipper Leo Cullen remaining in the 27-man squad named yesterday.

It is a measure of the growing strength in depth at Michael Cheika's disposal that they will still line-up at Murrayfield with internationalists such as Girvan Dempsey, Shane Horgan, Isa Nacewa, Ollie le Roux and Trevor Hogan. However, there is no Brian O'Driscoll, Rob Kearney, Felipe Contepomi or Luke Fitzgerald, Test forwards Jamie Heaslip, Bernard Jackman or Malcolm O'Kelly, nor Wallaby flanker Rocky Elsom.

Lock Jim Hamilton returns for Edinburgh and Ryan Grant and Andrew Turnbull return to the bench.

Leinster squad: Forwards - O Le Roux, R McCormack, B Blaney, J Fogarty, J Harris-Wright, J Hagan, S Knoop, L Cullen, T Hogan, D Toner, C Jowitt, S O'Brien, S Keogh, K McLaughlin; Backs - C Keane, P O'Donohoe, I Nacewa, I McKinley, S Keogh, G D'Arcy, E Sheridan, K Tonetti, F McFadden, G Brown, S Horgan, G Dempsey, N Morris.