Rennie non-plussed about rise of Edinburgh under rival Cockerill
IN manner and delivery Dave Rennie may be rather less animated than his Edinburgh counterpart Richard Cockerill but he showed yesterday that he was far from averse to a bit of pre-match psychology.
With both Scottish teams having recovered from losing their opening matches in the Heineken Champions Cup to win their next three, it is Edinburgh who appear to have made the more assertive move in climbing to the top of their pool, whereas Glasgow’s best chance of reaching the quarter-finals looks to be as one of the three best runners-up.
However, there seemed something rather faint about the praise Rennie offered their derby rivals as he assessed their form coming into the derbies.
“We know it is going to be a really good challenge,” he said. “When you look from a Europe perspective, Edinburgh have done really well.
“They are in a pool where all those teams have battled domestically but they have responded really well and done a good job over the last couple of weeks, so they will come into this game with a bit of form confidence.”
Not that there is the slightest chance of Rennie underestimating these opponents, after his side’s 10-match winning streak was ended in the corresponding fixture last year, with two defeats in three derbies in his first season seeing the 1872 Challenge Cup return to the capital.
“It was a hugely disappointing day, not the best way to go into Christmas, but I was really happy with the way we bounced back the following week,” he said.
While Rennie has much the deeper squad the respective starting line-ups have and good contrasting strengths. In looking to counter Edinburgh’s physicality Rennie has turned to his road Warriors who secured a crucial bonus-point win a fortnight ago, with co-captain Ryan Wilson once again left out of the 23 in favour of Adam Ashe the only changes to the team that started in Lyon in the front-row.
Tongan prop Siosiua Halanukanoka, D’Arcy Rae and youngster Grant Stewart are included with both Scotland hookers, Fraser Brown and George Turner, ruled out until well into the New Year after having to undergo surgery.