Edinburgh Rugby bring back big guns as Bayonne leave their star attraction at home

Edinburgh Rugby head coach Sean Everitt has unsurprisingly restored all of his available top players for Friday night’s Challenge Cup tie at home to Bayonne.

Everitt rested seven Scotland internationalists for last weekend’s 15-10 defeat by Gloucester in Pool 3, but with in-form French opposition arriving in the capital, Edinburgh are as near full-strength as they can be.

Wingers Duhan van der Merwe - fresh from signing a new contract earlier this week - Darcy Graham return, as does centre Matt Currie, who has also agreed a new deal, and scrum-half Ali Price. In the forwards, prop Pierre Schoeman packs down with fellow Scotland hooker Ewan Ashman, Grant Gilchrist comes in at second row and Jamie Ritchie is in at flanker.

Darcy Graham has been restored to the Edinburgh team. | SNS Group

Luke Crosbie, who has been absent due to injury, also comes into the back row alongside Magnus Bradbury. He replaces Freddy Douglas, who hurt his ankle at Kingsholm last week, while scrum-half Ben Vellacott also misses out with the same issue.

Bayonne won their opening match 17-16 against Scarlets and while Everitt predicted the side sitting fifth in the Top 14 would name a strong team for their trip to Scotland, he will be heartened by the absence of England centre Manu Tuilagi, who has been left out of the 23-man squad altogether.

On his team selection, Everitt said: “It’s great to welcome back some of our internationals for tomorrow night’s match. Winning at home in these knockout competitions is vitally important, so having those guys back in the starting lineup is incredibly important.

“We know that Bayonne can be a dangerous team; they played some great rugby against us last season and beat Scarlets last week, so they’ll come to Hive Stadium with confidence.”

Edinburgh have also been boosted ahead of the Bayonne match by Currie agreeing a new deal with the club. It was announced on Thursday that the 23-year-old has penned a fresh two-year contract at Hive Stadium.

Currie, who made his Scotland debut against Canada during the recent summer tour to The Americas – has been one of the more impressive players in the Edinburgh midfield so far this season, starting six out of eight games in all competitions.

A product of Dumfries Saints and Merchiston Castle School, Currie made his Edinburgh Rugby debut against Munster in February 2021. with the centre nearing a half-century of games for the capital club.

On re-signing, Currie said: “I’m really excited about staying on for the next two years. I've thoroughly enjoyed my time here since leaving school and joining the club in 2019. I feel like I’ve made Edinburgh my home.

“I think we’ve got a quality squad here and we’ve got a great blend of experience and younger guys coming through. I’ve grown up with a lot of the players here and it’s a privilege to represent the club alongside them.

Matt Currie has signed a new contract with Edinburgh. | SNS Group

“Edinburgh is a great place for me to be in terms of honing my skills and trying to improve as a player. We have some class centres here and there's some brilliant centres in Scotland right now.

“It’s a very competitive place but I think, if I can keep working on my own game in Edinburgh, I can hopefully push for more international caps in the future.”

Everitt added: “We're thrilled to have Matt [Currie] sign a new deal. He's a talented and hard-working player who has consistently impressed when playing a number of different positions across the backline.

“His development has been fantastic to watch and we believe he has the potential to become one of the best centres in the country.

“We’re delighted that he’s committed his future to the club.”

The teams

Edinburgh Rugby: 15 W Goosen; 14 D Graham, 13 M Currie, 12 M Tuipulotu, 11 D Van der Merwe; 10 R Thompson, 9 A Price; 1 P Schoeman, 2 E Ashman, 3 P Hill, 4 M Sykes, 5 G Gilchrist (c), 6 J Ritchie, 7 L Crosbie, 8 M Bradbury. Replacements: 16 D Cherry, 17 B Venter, 18 J Sebastian, 19 S Skinner , 20 T Dodd , 21 C Shiel, 22 B Healy, 23 J Lang.

Bayonne: 15 C Tiberghien; 14 A Callandret, 13 A Erbinartegaray, 12 G Martocq, 11 T Spring; 10 C Lopez (c), 9 B Germain; 1 A Bordelai, 2 L Martin, 3 P Cotet, 4 D Marchois, 5 V Poloniati, 6 E Capilla, 7 B Heguy, 8 R Bruni. Replacements. 16 T Van Jaarsveld, 17 S Cormenier, 18 P Scholtz, 19 R Bourdeau, 20 N Traversier, 21 M Machenaud, 22 J Segond, 23 N Megdoud.