1872 Cup rivals all fired up for Boxing Day head-to-head

FRIENDSHIPS have to be cast aside this Boxing Day as the festivities are quickly wrapped up for the Edinburgh and Glasgow players and the first of a now-annual two-legged 1872 Cup affair.

Two players who, literally, go head to head on Monday, props Geoff Cross and Ryan Grant, know each other well having both started their professional careers with the Border Reivers. In fact, had that team not existed when the pair made their entry into the game it is debatable whether either would have come this far. While Cross has gone on to win eight caps for Scotland in the past three years Grant has worked hard to resurrect his career after the Borders’ disbandment and a move to Edinburgh left him considering quitting altogether.

Given a new lease of life at Glasgow, he has grasped the opportunity to develop and, on the fringes of the Scotland World Cup squad, his role in front row battles, with the return to come at Firhill on January 1, could go a long way to determining which big forwards catch the eye of the Scotland coaches for the RBS Six Nations Championship.

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Cross is looking forward to the challenge. He said: “This is always a time of year when you’re going against your friends and you have to be aggressive and professional, against guys that you have had a laugh with in the past, and that adds an extra challenge into what is already a very challenging environment. “Ryan and myself have known each other for a long time and I respect Ryan’s ability. He works hard in the scrum and the loose; is fast and agile, and very committed. I saw him in training [at Edinburgh] and saw that there were people ahead of him, who were getting the game-time and preventing him getting the opportunity to grow.

“So going somewhere else where he’s been getting more game time, doing all the training and working as hard as he did in the past, he has grown as a player, and that’s a good thing for Ryan Grant and Scottish rugby. But my job is very similar to Ryan’s, to improve and challenge for places in the Scotland squad.”

Grant similarly praised Cross’s ability, and said there tend to be few verbals between the pair when the game starts. “You’re too knackered scrummaging and getting to the next play!” he said, laughing. “Me and Geoff have known each other for a long time, having been team mates at the Borders and Edinburgh together and now opponents.

“Geoff is a good scrummager and his record speaks for itself – he is an internationalist who has proven himself on the international stage. So it’s not going to be easy. But I have scrummaged against him before and we know what each other is about, so I think it will come down to who wants it more on the day.”

Edinburgh have enjoyed three wins from four Heineken Cup matches and are in with a great chance of qualifying from their pool for the quarter-finals, if they can pick up again for two final tough games with Racing Metro in France and London Irish back at Murrayfield.

Grant has come back from France where he played for the first hour before Jon Welsh took over as Glasgow were beginning to subdue the Montpellier scrum and the home support. Grant enjoyed his part in that, but admitted that the team’s knack of starting poorly and leaving a major second-half challenge had to end next week if they are to remain in the top four of the RaboDirect Pro12. “It’s been a repetitive story, where we seem to take a half to get into the game, he said, sighing, “and we don’t do ourselves any favours by defending for 30 minutes like we did on Sunday.

“But then we come out in the second half and there’s still an energy and belief that we can win games, even points down in the second half. I think in seasons past that might have been the case [lack of belief], and it takes time to come back from a season like we had last year, but we’re winning now and, whether it’s ugly rugby or flash rugby, teams are not beating us and we’re winning important games, and with that belief grows.

“To a man there’s not a team out there that we don’t believe we can beat, but we’re also well aware that we should be more convincing in our wins, should be winning better and scoring more tries, which is not yet coming as well as it should be.”

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That has struck at the heart of Glasgow’s disappointment, despite their fine run of nine wins from ten games – the struggle to be convincing. The Warriors, however, are currently fourth in the RaboDirect Pro12, seven points off leaders Leinster, with Edinburgh nine points back in ninth. Next week might promise to be a clash of two styles, Glasgow’s pack and kicking game against Edinburgh’s more adventurous back line, but Grant took issue with that assertion and insisted that his new side might surprise his old one.

“Edinburgh are playing a different game to us and we’re well aware of their back line and Tim Vissers and Greig Laidlaws,” he added. “If we’re to win we have to shut those guys down and play our game. We’re looking to expand, which is why we’re signing guys like Rory and Sean Lamont. We’re not going to come to Murrayfield and try to close the game down, but play rugby and score more tries than they do.

“It will be good for fans and Scottish rugby to have a good, open game of rugby. We have been slow out of the blocks recently, and have had to defend, but that’s not how we want to play, and is not how we train.

“The second halves have been more representative of the type of rugby we should be playing from the first whistle and hopefully that’s what we will come to Murrayfield and do.”