1872 Cup preview: Edinburgh sweat over Ross Ford and Izak van der Westhuizen

By DAVID FERGUSON
Published on 27/12/2012 00:03

EDINBURGH injury victims Ross Ford and Izak van der Westhuizen are major doubts for Saturday’s second leg of the 1872 Cup clash with Glasgow.

Down by nine points after the 23-14 defeat at Scotstoun last week, Edinburgh require a significant turnaround at Murrayfield this weekend if they are to regain Scotland’s oldest district trophy after an absence of three years and, crucially, keep alive hopes of reaching the Rabo Direct PRO12 play-offs.

They are preparing to go into battle without British and Irish Lions hooker Ford and recent South African signing Van Der Westhuizen after both were forced off in the first half last Friday. The lock has a leg injury which required treatment at Scotstoun, while Ford suffered what is commonly known as a “stinger” – shoulder nerves damaged in a collision.

Both Edinburgh and Glasgow name their teams for Saturday’s showdown this afternoon and, while not concerned about any long-term injury, the home coach Michael Bradley admitted that he may leave Ford out to give his shoulder a chance to properly recover.

“He has had three stingers in the last four games now so it’s a bit worrying,” said Bradley. “He has recovered very well in the last couple of weeks, and didn’t have any recurrence against Racing Metro, so he was fine for the Glasgow game and it may just have been an unfortunate hit on what has become a sensitive spot.

“But, while his powers of recovery are excellent, it is a little bit of a worry so we need to sort that out for him.”

Glasgow are not likely to remodel their winning side but are expected to have their big South African signing Josh Strauss back after his recent wedding in his homeland as they bid to retain the 1872 Cup with a convincing first win at Murrayfield since 2 January 2010.