1872 Cup: Edinburgh on the up but Glasgow Warriors have the nous to overcome loss of key men

Edinburgh have strongest team available while Glasgow struggle with injuries – but it wouldn’t be a surprise if hosts edge tonight’s 1872 Cup clash

Such was the gulf between Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh last season that a whopping 25 points separated the sides in the final United Rugby Championship standings. Franco Smith’s team beat their inter-city rivals both home and away in the 1872 Cup games either side of Christmas and Edinburgh never really recovered, winning just two more league games to slump to 12th in the table, 10 points adrift of a play-off spot and eight places behind Glasgow.

This year’s festive double-header sees the capital side hale and hearty again, returned to rude health under the quiet authority of Sean Everitt. The South African has guided the team to five wins and two defeats in the URC this season – the same as Glasgow – and goes into Friday’s 1872 Cup first leg at Scotstoun with one significant advantage over the hosts: Everitt is able to pick his strongest side.

Darcy Graham is back, meaning that for the first time this season Edinburgh will start a match with Duhan van der Merwe and Graham on the wings, the two most prolific finishers in Scottish rugby. Emiliano Boffelli, the missing piece of their back-field holy trinity, is on the bench after recovering from the toe injury which has kept him out since the World Cup, so the on-form Wes Goosen continues at full-back. They are further bolstered by the availability of WP Nel who has recovered from a groin strain and takes his place alongside Pierre Schoeman and Ewan Ashman at the front of the scrum.

While Edinburgh have all their frontline players available, the Warriors are missing some of their best talent. Jack Dempsey, Matt Fagerson, Kyle Steyn, Fraser Brown, Ollie Smith, Sebastian Cancelliere, Jamie Dobie and JP du Preez are all crocked. With Ollie Smith having joined Cancelliere and Steyn on the injured list, Huw Jones has been pressed into emergency service on the wing by the resourceful Franco Smith. The Glasgow coach’s glass is usually half full and a rare chance to field a backline with Jones, Sione Tuipulotu and Stafford McDowall is seen as an opportunity rather than an impediment. “My philosophy is to play with three centres, four sometimes if I can, and two full-backs instead of necessarily wings, so that they can fit in anywhere,” explained Smith, a master at utilising his full squad. “It’s also a position where Huw can offer to Scotland. He’s been very excited about playing there.”

Jones, Tuiupulptu and McDowall have all excelled under Smith and it will be interesting to see how the trio work together. Edinburgh have stuck with James Lang and Matt Currie at centre, leaving Mark Bennett on the bench, and it’s hard to escape the feeling that Glasgow have the edge in this department. The opposite is true at stand-off, where Ross Thompson makes only his second start in 18 months after a torrid time with injury. The 24-year-old performed well in difficult conditions in Glasgow’s win over Bayonne in France last week but he’ll be up against Ben Healy on Friday and the former Munster man has been Edinburgh’s most influential player this season. A consummate game manager, Healy is also the leading points scorer in the URC this season and has been an inspired signing from Munster.

Alongside him will be Ali Price and no player has dominated the build-up to this game more than the Scotland scrum-half. After nine years of sterling service with Glasgow, Price was shunted along the M8 last month to join Edinburgh on loan for the remainder of the season. As expected of a player of his ability and experience, Price has quickly improved Edinburgh and it will be fascinating to see what sort of reception he gets on his return to Scotstoun.

“Between the boys and Ali there will be the necessary banter, I suppose,” said Franco Smith. “We know the threats he poses and he knows us better than anyone having been in our environment for a long time. He will have communicated a lot of that to his new team-mates, but we’ve not got any specific plans. Some of the boys will love to welcome him back – I’ll say that tongue-in-cheek – but it will be all positive.”

Edinburgh winger Duhan van der Merwe wraps up at training ahead of the 1872 Cup first leg with Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun. (Photo by Ewan Bootman / SNS Group)

Everitt said he hadn’t been pushing Price for inside info on Glasgow, claiming to do so would be “unethical”. Such Corinthian values are rare in modern sport but Everitt seems like a decent sort and we must take him at his word. For all the individual battles across the back division, the reality is that both teams need the ball to unleash their attacking weapons and Everitt didn’t hesitate when asked where he thought the game would be won and lost

“I think the key deciding factors will be discipline, set-piece and the breakdown,” said the Edinburgh coach. “Both teams would like to play a little more rugby and have a ball-in-hand approach – we know that Glasgow defended really well over the last part of the competition, and they’ve also won a lot of turnovers on the deck, so if we are accurate with regards to the breakdown and put pressure on theirs, I believe that will be the biggest deciding factor of all.”

To that end, how the home side’s Rory Darge and Sione Vailanu fare against Edinburgh’s Hamish Watson and Jamie Ritchie could go a long way to deciding the outcome. Given both teams’ commitment to attack, expectations are high for an open game of rugby but these derby matches rarely deliver a try-fest. The weather is also unlikely to play ball, with wind and rain forecast. That might suit Glasgow who are well used to playing at a stormy Scotstoun. Smith’s experience of this fixture is also likely to be a factor. While Everitt has made noises about league points being at stake, just like in any other URC match, Smith hasn’t shied away from the fact that these games means more to the supporters than any others, hence why a crowd approaching 30,000 is expected for next week’s second leg at Murrayfield.

“This has been a rivalry for years,” said the Glasgow coach. “It’s a game that has been talked about since the start of the season. Both teams will have prepared in a specific way, and from our side the guys are keen, there are places in the Scotland team to play for in the next two weeks, so that will suit the coaching group of the national team as well. So yes, there’s a little bit of extra motivation this week.”

Huw Jones will start on the wing for Glasgow Warriors against Edinburgh at Scotstoun. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

Shorn as he is of a raft of experienced players, Smith might just have enough nous to get the better of his fellow South African at Scotstoun.

Glasgow Warriors v Edinburgh (URC/1872 Cup first leg, Scotstoun, 7.35pm)

Glasgow Warriors: J McKay; H Jones, S Tuipulotu (c), S McDowall, K Rowe; R Thompson, G Horne; J Bhatti, G Turner, Z Fagerson, S Cummings, R Gray, A Miller, R Darge, S Vailanu. Replacements: J Matthews, N McBeth, O Kebble, G Peterson, M Williamson, H Venter, B Afshar, T Jordan.

Edinburgh: W Goosen; D Graham, M Currie, J Lang, D van der Merwe; B Healy, A Price; P Schoeman, E Ashman, WP Nel, G Young, G Gilchrist (c), J Ritchie, H Watson, V Mata. Replacements: D Cherry, B Venter, D Rae, M Sykes, L Crosbie, B Vellacott, M Bennett, E Boffelli.

Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU).