GILCHRISTWILL BE SEARCHING FOR INTER-CITY HEROES AGAIN
EDINBURGH second row Grant Gilchrist will call on his team-mates to channel the spirit of the Murrayfield derby heroes of two years ago when he takes the field in his latest battle with Glasgow Warriors.
The Scotland international has eight years’ worth of derby matches under his belt and that remarkable victory in the winter of 2017 is the one that he remembers most.
In one of the most dramatic inter-city games ever, Simon Berghan was sent off for stamping on Fraser Brown’s head at a ruck after just six minutes, which made a Glasgow win look inevitable.
Tries by Huw Jones and Scott Cummings for Glasgow backed that up with only some brave Edinburgh defending and the boot of scrum-half
Sam Hidalgo-Clyne keeping the home side in the match.
Gilchrist’s team did get a try from Nathan Fowles but looked destined to lose before Chris Dean went over a minute from time to secure a remarkable 18-17 win that led to wild scenes of celebration among the Edinburgh players.
‘That’s one game that will stick with me until the end of my career,’ said Gilchrist. ‘Guys just dogging it out and we got our opportunity at the end and we took it. To win that game was really special.
‘I will never forget it. We lost a first-minute try and were down to 14 men when Simon got red-carded in the first six minutes. I realised then that even the crowd thought we were going to get a hammering.
‘Glasgow had won every game of the season up until that point so they were in incredible form. It was just pure guts that won us that game and we have to remember to play like that again next weekend.’
That match was Richard Cockerill’s first derby as Edinburgh head coach and, not surprisingly, Gilchrist reveals his enthusiasm for the fixture has never diminished.
‘You can see Cockers enjoys the derby games,’ he added. ‘He always gets us up for every game but he enjoys the extra spice of a derby and that comes out in the way he prepares us.
‘Big games are why we play rugby. Week-in, week-out is your bread and butter but the big games of the season, the ones that stand out, are the derby games. They’re always the ones that everybody wants to play in so there’ll be extra competition. This week I’m sure Cockers will be a bit extra on our case and will have a bit of extra spice to him.’