1872 Cup: Edinburgh need win to justify Castres decision but Glasgow are in a good spot

The Warriors have, after all, won the 1872 Cup three years in a row and are red-hot favourites to overcome their oldest rivals at Hampden on Saturday in the first leg of this season’s renewal.

Having beaten the mighty Toulouse so impressively last weekend, Dempsey and Glasgow are brimming with confidence, and rightly so. But Edinburgh also enjoyed a notable European success over top-class French opposition this month. Their win over Toulon in the rain at Hive Stadium has been overshadowed somewhat by the Warriors’ mastery of Dupont and co. It has also been undermined by Edinburgh’s decision to field a weakened team in their next match in the Champions Cup, against Castres away.

Sean Everitt made 11 changes for the game in France and, in his own words, the team “fell apart a bit” in the second half, losing 33-0.

Edinburgh need to win to justify Castres decision

The Edinburgh coach made no apologies for resting some of his most important players for the Castres match, admitting that he had prioritised the 1872 Cup. Darcy Graham, Duhan van der Merwe, Pierre Schoeman, Grant Gilchrist and skipper Magnus Bradbury all return for the Glasgow match and Everitt’s hope is that there will be a freshness about the Scotland quintet.

It feels as if Edinburgh need to win at Hampden to justify the decision to go to Castres with such an inexperienced team. It won’t be easy. Glasgow ripped them apart this time last year when the game was played at the national football stadium for the first time.

Edinburgh had hoped the switch from Scotstoun would have stripped away some of the Warriors’ home advantage but Franco Smith’s side adapted with ease and were better in every department. They led 33-0 deep into the second half before two consolation tries from Boan Venter made the final score 33-14.

Edinburgh started slowly and were indisciplined, particularly in the first half when they gave away a slew of penalties and had Schoeman and Marshall Sykes sent to the sin-bin. Everitt knows there can be no repeat on Saturday if they are to have a chance of winning and he is confident lessons have been learned.

“Obviously there's been growth in this group over the last 12 months,” he said. “Last year in the first 40 minutes we gave away 12 penalties. You can't give field position to Glasgow in your 22 12 times because they're really good at completing and they've got a strong maul.

Fire in the belly, ice on the brain

“So it's for us to be able to put in a really good, disciplined defensive effort on the weekend. At the same time, we've got to be brave as well and I think last year we left numerous opportunities out there, specifically from a counter-attack point of view, where maybe we could have been a little bit braver and had a go at them. Instead we kicked to them where they were dangerous as well. So we've taken lessons out of that and we're looking forward to this battle and a different outcome.”

In the same breath, Everitt also described the inter-city derbies as “pretty much war for 80 minutes” and knows he needs to get the emotional balance right

“I think there's a saying, that you've got to have fire in your belly and ice on the brain,” he said. “So you want to be emotional, but at the same time, you want to be composed, and you want to deliver a good performance. And you can't deliver a good performance if your brain is always in the red, because then it's going to be erratic and it's going to be ill-disciplined.

“I think it starts with your week's preparation and how you build up those emotions to Saturday and making sure that when you are preparing, that you are focused on the plan and the job that you need to do on the Saturday and then build the emotion up later in the week once the plan has been installed.”

Glasgow seemed to get the balance exactly right against Toulouse. Trailing 21-0 at the break after playing into the wind and rain in the first half, they didn’t panic. There was belief and there were cool heads. It took them until the 50th minute to get their first points on the board and they were irresistible thereafter, adding three more converted tries to win 28-21 in what was surely their greatest ever performance in 30 years of European club competition.

“We’re not getting too carried away, but we’re really keen to use the experience that we've got from that, the confidence we can take and not downplay that either,” said Kyle Steyn, the Glasgow captain.

“We're in a good spot. I think we've got a mature enough group that's been through enough of these big games now and knows what it takes to get up for a weekend; particularly a weekend like this.”

Edinburgh’s youngsters can ‘bring a different energy’

It’s hard to see past Glasgow at Hampden but Edinburgh’s ‘little brother’ squad are determined to make a point to Warriors No 8 Dempsey. The inclusion of Liam McConnell, 21, and Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, 19, in the starting side, and Freddy Douglas, 20, on the bench gives Everitt confidence they can give Glasgow a bloody nose.

“We know that youngsters bring a different energy,” said the Edinburgh coach. “They've got more to compete for than just the 1872 Cup. They're trying to compete for a place in the team and they're trying to establish themselves so they can play for Scotland.

“Maybe the little brothers, as Jack Dempsey talks about, the Liam McConnells, might give them a bit of a scare on Saturday.”

How the teams will line up at Hampden

Edinburgh v Glasgow Warriors (URC/1872 Cup first leg, Hampden Park, Saturday, 3pm):

Glasgow Warriors: 15. Ollie Smith; 14. Kyle Steyn (capt), 13. Stafford McDowall, 12. Sione Tuipulotu, 11. Jamie Dobie; 10. Adam Hastings, 9. George Horne; 1. Nathan McBeth, 2. Gregor Hiddleston, 3. Zander Fagerson, 4. Max Williamson, 5. Scott Cummings, 6. Matt Fagerson, 7. Rory Darge, 8. Jack Dempsey. Replacements: 16. Seb Stephen, 17. Rory Sutherland, 18. Sam Talakai, 19. Alex Craig, 20. Gregor Brown, 21. Ally Miller, 22. Ben Afshar, 23. Dan Lancaster.

Edinburgh: 15. Wes Goosen; 14. Darcy Graham, 13. Matt Currie, 12. Piers O’Conor, 11. Duhan van der Merwe; 10 Cammy Scott, 9. Ben Vellacott; 1. Pierre Schoeman, 2. Ewan Ashman, 3. Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, 4. Glen Young, 5. Grant Gilchrist, 6. Liam McConnell, 7. Dylan Richardson, 8. Magnus Bradbury (capt). Replacements: 16. Harri Morris, 17. Boan Venter, 18. Paul Hill, 19. Callum Hunter-Hill, 20. Freddy Douglas, 21. Conor McAlpine, 22. Ross Thompson, 23. Matt Davidson.

Referee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU).