Murrayfield hoping for new crowd record for Heineken Cup quarter-final

EDINBURGH are edging nearer to the UK attendance record for a Heineken Cup quarter-final match and surpassing the crowd that witnessed Scotland’s last victory over South Africa.

When the capital club claimed a first-ever home quarter-final against French side Toulouse, chief executive Craig Docherty set the ambitious target of beating the 36,728 figure, when Cardiff also hosted Toulouse in 2009, which remains the biggest attendance for a quarter-final in the UK. Perpignan hold the overall record of 55,000, set for their game with Toulon last year.

Edinburgh were delighted with the crowd of 11,000 that witnessed their crucial pool match with London Irish, but have now trebled that and if the walk-up crowd emulates the 3,000 of that game it would take them past the record. To put this game’s drawing power into perspective, when the reigning world champions, South Africa, pitched up at Murrayfield in 2010, just over 35,000 people were in the stadium to see the famous Scotland triumph.

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Docherty said: “This match has really grabbed the Scottish rugby public, and wider sporting public to be honest, and I knew it would. We have worked very hard on marketing it. Having Toulouse as the opponents adds something because they are the most successful side in Europe, having won the competition four times.

“I think because Scotland, with many of our players involved, came so close to beating France in the Six Nations, there is a real optimism that Edinburgh could pull this off and reach the semi-finals.”

Boroughmuir and Melrose have switched their Premier One match, in which the Borders club could claim a second successive title, to Meggetland tonight to avoid a clash, while West regional clubs Mull and McLaren will kick off their game tomorrow morning at 11am on the back pitches at Murrayfield, with Mull hoping to set their own record for a ‘home’ crowd. Deuchars pubs in the capital have put on a special promotional beer for the weekend of ‘Edinburgh Not To-Lose’ to help fortify supporters.

James King, the Melrose and Edinburgh centre recovering from a groin operation, will miss out, but even he has been caught up in the excitement.

“I’ll be going to Meggetland and even from a neutral perspective it should be a good game as both teams like to play,” he said. “Saturday is going to be huge for Edinburgh. It’s fantastic to see how the tie has really got supporters excited.”