Warriors aim for 1872 home success
While Europe’s top teams are shooting it out in the semi-finals stage of both the Champions and Challenge Cups this weekend – Scotland’s pro players are stuck at home twiddling their thumbs.
Watching the action from their sofas will be another painful reminder of just how far off the pace both Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors have been this season.
At least both sets of players will get an opportunity to pick-up some silverware when the two Scottish pro teams clash in the third – and final – leg of the 1872 Cup at Scotstoun on Friday night.
The series is currently tied with one win apiece, and Warriors co-captain Ryan Wilson has vowed that his team is ready to make the most of having home advantage, as they look to bounce back from a humiliating 46-19 defeat to Benetton in their most recent outing last weekend.
Wilson admitted: “That was up there as one of my worst experiences in a Glasgow Warriors shirt.
“We’ve had to take a good, long hard look at ourselves – we had a really good meeting on Tuesday morning, which was player-led because ultimately it was down to those 23 men who were on the field.
“We went through it all, played footage for about 60 minutes, and it came down to poor decision-making and basic skill errors which can be fixed.
“Now we have to make sure we use it as fuel for what’s coming up, a tough derby match.”
He added: “We won’t struggle for motivation against Edinburgh, and it will be a good one for us to gauge where we’re at.
“You would hope guys would be chomping at the bit to get involved in this one.
“I think it’s a good thing to have a game like that coming up.
“We can refer back to the Benetton game and underline the fact that doesn’t happen again to us this season. We’ll use that as fuel.”
Edinburgh come into the match in a more positive frame of mind, having kicked off their Rainbow Cup campaign with a hard-earned win over Zebre at Murrayfield last weekend.
And Blair Kinghorn (inset, below left) – who is set to make his 100th appearance on Friday – says that as well as targeting 1872 Cup success, the team are looking further ahead.
While most sides appear to be using the Rainbow Cup as a development tool for academy and fringe players, Kinghorn insists that Edinburgh are in it to win it.
He said: “We’ve sold ourselves short this season a little bit in terms of our performances, so we’ve had a real emphasis on these next five or six games.
“We’re going at it full guns, enjoying ourselves, playing the rugby we know we can play and trying to win something because that’s what we’re all here to do.”