CAPTAIN McINALLY FOLLOWS LEGEND WHITE’S LEAD
EDINBURGH’S Stuart McInally has sounded out Scottish rugby legend Jason White in a bid to ensure his first start as club captain turns into a winning one. McInally was surprised to be handed the armband for tonight’s trip to play Newport Gwent Dragons after Mike Coman picked up a head knock in the European Challenge Cup Final defeat to Gloucester a week ago. And McInally revealed that he has sought expert advice on how to handle the role from former national skipper White, who won 77 caps for his country. Hooker McInally (pictured), who is being forced to play in the back row because of an injury crisis which has also ruled out David Denton and Tomas Leonardi, said: ‘I thought the obvious choice (as skipper) would be Ross Ford but I’m part of the leadership group, too, and it’s a great honour to be given the job. ‘Alan Solomons says he just wants me to put my own stamp on things, which I intend to do. ‘I feel confident I can do a good job because I’ve led the likes of the Scotland Under-20s and did bits and bobs for Edinburgh, if Mike or Ross had to go off during games. I don’t speak much but I like to think I’ll speak fairly regularly as captain tonight. I’m calm and more about making sure there is clarity about people’s roles. ‘Jason White is at my management agency. He looks after my contracts and works with me on my day-to-day rugby stuff. Over the past few weeks, leadership has come up and he has been a great help. I’ve been speaking to him about different ways to approach the captaincy and he has been giving me good advice based on his huge experience.’ Edinburgh need to win at Rodney Parade to keep alive their chances of finishing in the top six of the Pro12 and automatically qualifying for next year’s European Champions Cup. If they finish seventh, they face a rematch at Gloucester on May 24 and then, potentially, the seventh-placed team in the French Top 14 to qualify through the Champions League play-offs. Despite Edinburgh’s defeat to Gloucester at the Twickenham Stoop, McInally would have no trepidation about facing them again. ‘We’d much rather qualify by finishing in the top six but if we faced Gloucester in the play-offs, we certainly wouldn’t fear them. ‘It was a huge disappointment to lose but what hurt the most was we didn’t give a good account of ourselves, so there is room for improvement. We would relish playing them again.’
NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS: Prydie; Hewitt, Morgan, Dixon, Amos; Tovey, Jones; Price, Rhys Thomas, Harris, Hill, Landman, Crosswell, Cudd, Faletau.
EDINBURGH: Cuthbert; Fife, Beard, Strauss, Visser; Burleigh, Hidalgo-Clyne; Dickinson, Ford, Nel, McKenzie, Toolis, McInally, Watson, du Preez.
Kick-off: 7.30pm.