ALL EYES ON WING KINGS
Blair is hoping Graham, Hoyland and Boffelli can drive Edinburgh to victory
EDINBURGH head coach Mike Blair has backed his exciting, attackminded back three to lay the foundations for victory in this evening’s crucial derby with Glasgow Warriors.
Around 25,000 are expected at BT Murrayfield for the televised showdown, which will decide which team makes the Heineken Champions Cup next season and who drops down to the Challenge Cup.
Blair is expecting wingers Darcy Graham, Damien Hoyland and full-back Emiliano Boffelli to make good use of the wide-open spaces of the national stadium.
And his biggest boost ahead of the match has been the return of
Graham after five weeks out with a leg injury. The 24-year-old Scotland international certainly brings a new and welcome dimension to his attack.
‘Darcy has been excellent for us this season and it’s great to have him back,’ said Blair. ‘He is a top-quality international player.
‘For the Wasps game a couple of weeks ago, he was touch and go and — if it had been the last game of the season with no game to come for three months — we might have risked him.
‘But we knew we had the Glasgow game, then the league quarter-final to come and he has been able to get some extra work in. He is looking in good condition now. He’s an important player for us and he brings energy, experience, skill and speed to our team.’
Having Graham back has allowed Blair to move Argentinian Boffelli, who has eight tries in 14 appearances from the wing in his first season at the club, to full-back.
Jaco van der Walt, who had been filling in at 15 but who normally plays at fly-half, drops to the bench. Hoyland, who was handed a contract extension earlier this month based on his recent form, is on the other wing to Graham.
‘Boffelli is a natural back-three player,’ said Blair. ‘Jaco has done well in that role but Emiliano has been outstanding for us this season and gives us some solidity at the back.
‘It means we have a quick and balanced back three with Darcy and Damien on the wings.
‘Boffelli has played a couple of times for us at full-back in the past, and he played the Sharks game and the Dragons game as well when Damien was on the right wing. He’s played at 15 a lot and he likes playing at 15, so that will work well for us.
‘We see the back three players as being fairly interchangeable, which is good. Darcy has played a little bit at 15 and Damien has played a little bit at 15, and Emiliano is comfortable on the wing, so it is an exciting and experienced back three.’
Blair Kinghorn, who is a running rather than kicking fly-half, has been given the task of releasing the back three — although his head coach doesn’t want the ball to be thrown along the line just for the sake of it.
‘There’s balance to it,’ he said. ‘I like the way teams talk about our attacking game and moving the ball and shifting the ball, because that’s what I want to be part of our DNA. But, as we know, there’s plenty more to winning a game of rugby than that. We need to run it when it feels right or when the chance is on.’
Blair is able to field a near fullstrength team and, although Stuart McInally misses out through injury, his fellow Scotland international hooker David Cherry is an able deputy.
Hamish Watson returns in the back row after being rested for the Challenge Cup quarter-final defeat to Wasps a fortnight ago. Pierre Schoeman will start at loosehead prop after being on the bench against the English club.
Blair is only too aware of the pressure attached to tonight’s game and, with so much on the line, has warned his players not to get caught up in the emotion of the occasion.
‘These derby games are always big ones and it is really important for us to get the balance right between our levels of emotion going into the game,’ he said. ‘We need to bring the emotion to the game where we are physical but, at the same time, control our emotions so we make good decisions under pressure. We need to channel our emotions in the right way and not do anything silly.
‘We have to play the game, not the occasion, against Glasgow. I don’t want our guys going into this thinking it is a big game. I want them to go in thinking about what the process is and what it requires to beat this Glasgow team. A lot of our younger guys have never played in a Test match atmosphere before, which this game most certainly will be with so much on the line.’
The 1872 Cup is also up for grabs, with the Warriors 13 points in front following the first leg in March. Blair will have that in mind if his side have a decent lead going into the final stages, but he added: ‘First and foremost our job is to win the game.
‘Obviously we are respectful of the 1872 Cup and what that brings, wanting to win that and get one up on the rivalry, but the first job is to win the game.’