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Edinburgh braced for ‘massive match’ with one eye on URC play-offs
Edinburgh are braced for “a massive match” as they bid to boost their hopes of making it into the United Rugby Championship play-offs with a home win over bottom-of-the-league Zebre on Friday evening.
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Sean Everitt’s side are currently ninth in the table with just three games remaining in their pursuit of a place in the top eight.
Although Edinburgh are outside the play-off zone at present, the mid-section of the league is so tightly congested that they are within two points of fifth-placed Stormers heading into the latest round of fixtures.
“This is a massive match for our play-off aspirations and we’ll need to be fully focused and disciplined to secure a positive result,” head coach Everitt told the Edinburgh website.
“Zebre Parma are a much-improved side and will travel to Edinburgh with nothing to lose. They bring physicality and can score from anywhere on the park, so we’ll need to match their energy from the get-go.
“We’re right in the battle for the play-offs and the squad know that every game in this run-in is a cup final. The backing of our supporters will once again be crucial, so we encourage everyone to get behind the team for this vital encounter.”
Edinburgh’s starting line-up features 10 members of Scotland’s 2023 World Cup squad, with just two changes to the team that won away to Cardiff in their last outing.
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Emiliano Boffelli drops out through injury so Matt Currie shifts to the wing, allowing Mark Bennett to start at outside centre.
Fiji international Viliame Mata returns at number eight in place of Luke Crosbie, who is named among the replacements.
Comments on RugbyPass
Dupont sees opportunities where there wasn’t one until he makes it so. Utter class.
1 Go to commentsThese are the guys that do the cohesion predictions? That will be a very interesting review and they have likely already told the Crusaders of their expections for them given such a young and inexperienced squad without all their injured and departed players. I wonder if any of that will get leaked out, perhaps only if the cohesion metric predicted such a season? Actually even that would like badly upon the backoffice, I suspect it likely we will never know what Gain Line Analytics made of this season now! Unless the PUs put its publication to vote?
11 Go to commentsCurrently across the super franchises the forwards choices for Robertson is in the luxury of the competitions depth for selection . However same can’t be said regarding selection of the backs, especially the inside backs. I believe that’s where his dilemma will be. If he can’t get mouanga for the start then he should forget him and move on.
27 Go to commentsIf they had another round up their sleeve then no doubt the sadas wouldv been top8. I say leave things alone and get into the next season I rekon the turn around will carry on.
11 Go to commentsSimilar to Arran Smith in his style of application.
5 Go to commentsSave your money. Just learn from the bad stuff and play better next year. Lost loads of key players and had half the team out broken for most of the season.
11 Go to commentsJosh Ioane has been great for opposition teams all season. The sooner the Chiefs unload him to MP the better.
6 Go to commentsMunster have very good back row stocks nowadays, lots of guys with very high potential. Okeke is unlucky not to get a contract. If he came along 10 years ago, he almost certainly would have. Could be very good for Coventry.
1 Go to commentsGreat article! Love that you point out so much that is positive, and back it up with quotes and clips.
1 Go to commentsNo scapegoats. No knee-jerk reactions. Just excuses in an expensive report under file 13. I’ll give the saders some free consulting - no planning after Razor. Just let things fall flat to rebuild. Easy.
11 Go to commentsJosh Bayliss was the early sub for Barbeary
1 Go to commentsHis deficiencies in defence must be major and beyond rebuilding because on attack he has a unique set of skills matched only by a combination of Mark Telea, Shaun Stevenson and Etene Nanai Seturo. His aerial and kicking game is next level and he displays a contempt for one on one situations. We've become obsessed with our no. 11 being a power weapon ignoring the better multi faceted option. Mark Telea is helping to change that mind set, Salesi Rayasi would advance that too.
6 Go to commentsWayne barnes should join the Queen
271 Go to commentsHope both you dirty mutts get cancer and die
41 Go to commentsOqueef was on the saffa pay roll , needs his head stomped
180 Go to commentsChiefs miss a tight 5 of serious grunt. Missing Guzzlers.scrum power and the Blues have spent the last.few yrs nicking their props. Will have to start better than recent matches to stop the Reds.
6 Go to commentsWith the civil war going on over in NZR you have to wonder if these guys can afford to throw money around on consulting firms? Consultants just going to charge them thousands for the privilege of telling them that the brain drain is hurting them, they played like pork chops & maybe some insights gleaned from reading the various rugby blog posts with a couple of graphs thrown in to dicky the report up. My suggestion is they forego the consultants and get a subscription to watch the URC, English Premiership, Top14 and EPCR competitions so that they can learn a bit from all the players and coaches that have left already NZ.
11 Go to commentsI am pleased about the progress of Canada and their recent success. What concerns me slightly is the the PWR league in England has become the breeding ground for other countries’ players with nearly half of Canada’s team playing there. Long term sustainability of good international teams depends on developing their own leagues and systems. They cannot rely upon England forever.
1 Go to commentsShe has a good sense of the perfect fly half but I agree with her mother about the disfiguring tattoos. I shall watch her progress with interest.
1 Go to commentsSurprised Ireland haven’t already nabbed Rayasi. So much competition in the back three in all NZ Super teams that you need a coach who believes in you and will select you regularly.
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