BACK DOWN TO BUSINESS
Edinburgh raring to go for Cardiff clash
Edinburgh come out of cold storage today with the chance to reach the summit of the united rugby Championship table.
Mike blair’s team have not played since december 11 but can overtake league leaders Leinster if they defeat Cardiff at the dAM health Stadium.
Scrum-half henry Pyrgos and back-row Luke Crosbie have been ruled out for Covid-related reasons, with blair also missing winger darcy graham and no 8 bill Mata through injury for a match that will be played in front of empty stands.
‘it’s been a funny period with the heightened amount of Covid cases in general,’ said blair. ‘henry and Luke are Covid-related. We’re doing okay and we’ve been able to put out a fairly full-strength team barring a couple.’
Edinburgh’s last outing was their away win over Saracens in the European Challenge Cup almost a month ago. They then had a free weekend before having their two back-to-back league matches against glasgow postponed, one only six hours before kick-off after the Covid outbreak among the Warriors players.
‘it’s been frustrating not playing the games,’ he said. ‘We’ve had an internal hit-out, which was good and the guys have been getting on with things and preparing as best we can.
‘i think the guys are desperate to play against Cardiff as it’s been pretty much a month since we played a game, so they’re really looking forward to getting out there. The weather forecast is pretty good, so fingers crossed for a good game of rugby.’
Topping the league, at least until Leinster play next, would be a great achievement for blair, who only took over from Edinburgh head coach richard Cockerill at the start of the season.
The former Scotland captain is doing his best to keep expectations in check by reminding everybody his team has yet to play any of the four irish provinces.
‘i don’t really think about these things and am not that organised to think about where we want to be or where we should be,’ said blair. ‘not being too goal-orientated or not looking too far ahead and just trying to get better each week is my emphasis.
‘We have touched on maybe being top of the league in previous weeks but mostly it is about maintaining our standards. i want us to be driving our own performances and not necessarily thinking where that will put us in the league.’
The Edinburgh team is boosted by the return from injury of fullback henry immelman, centre James Lang, fly-half blair Kinghorn and prop WP nel. grant gilchrist is named as captain with Kinghorn vice-captain in his first appearance for the club after he signed a two-year contract extension earlier this month.
‘Kinghorn, since he moved to ten, has really helped drive our game,’ said blair. ‘With the vicecaptaincy, i have tried to spread it around a little bit as there is a huge amount of growth within the leadership of our team that we can push and expand.’
Although Edinburgh are missing the attacking potency of graham, blair is confident his back three can do a job against Cardiff.
‘henry immelman was really consistent for us at full-back before he picked up his wrist injury,’ said blair. ‘On the wings, we have Emiliano boffelli and raymiro Moyano, who has taken the opportunities he has had. it is good to have these three guys in against Cardiff.’
Cardiff blues have named James botham, grandson of cricket legend Sir ian botham, at no 8 for the match. The back-row forward missed the early part of the season following a shoulder operation, with the nine-times capped Welsh international impressing in his return in the Champions Cup double-header against Toulouse and harlequins last month.
Cardiff head coach dai Young said he would be thankful for the game to simply go ahead.
‘Everyone is just keeping their fingers crossed that we get a game going,’ said Young.