Edinburgh v Borders - Fri 1st Dec KO 7.30pm

Edinburgh v Borders

I’ve hummed and harred about this game a lot……First look at the Caps lead me to believe it was a gimme for the Burghers, then I realised that the Borders pack have been reunited and do play well as a unit, then I’ve tried to factor in the loss of Border’s captain, Chris Cussiter but decided that Calum McCrae is more than a good enough replacement, to make matters worse I then found out Edinburgh had made 3 brand new decent signings to the squad and all should play a part in tonight’s game…..this lead me to drink a bottle of Port last night. I still feel remarkably sick come Friday lunchtime. Ah well.


Edinburgh need to get back on track after their defeat against the Dragons a couple of weeks ago and as an eye witness the defensive display was quite impressive in terrible conditions. I think they know the importance of this game and that a bonus point win really is their target. If Edinburgh do give away silly penalties then McCrae is more than capable of kicking them from anywhere, I expect Borders to start well tonight and then get ground down.



Form: Edinburgh have lost back to back Magners League matches to Cardiff Blues and Newport Gwent Dragons, however the capital side have never lost at home to a fellow Scottish side in the history of the league. Border Reivers have lost their last three games in all competitions and have won just once on the road in the league since September 2005: 20-8 at Glasgow on 3 March. The two sides have clashed on six previous occasions in the league with each match being won by the home side on the day. The Reivers have lost on both of their previous visits to Murrayfield


Edinburgh: 15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Chris Paterson (c), 13 Marcus Di Rollo, 12 Andrew Easson, 11 Ben Cairns, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Dave Callam, 7 Simon Taylor, 2 Dougie Hall, 3 Alasdair Dickinson, 4 Matt Mustchin, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 1 Allan Jacobsen.Replacements: 16 Steven Lawrie, 17 Dave Hewett, 18 Chris Bentley, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 John Senio, 21 Duncan Hodge, 22 Lucio Lopez Fleming.

Border Reivers: 15 Calum MacRae (c), 14 Brendon Daniel, 13 Bryan Rennie, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 Garry Law, 10 Steve Jones, 9 Brendan McKerchar, 8 Kelly Brown, 7 Scott Gray, 6 John Dalziel, 5 Craig Hamilton, 4 Opeta Palepoi, 3 Bruce Douglas, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Gavin Kerr. Replacements: 16 Steve Scott, 17 Ed Kalman, 18 Stuart Grimes, 19 Ryan Grant, 20 Calum Cusiter/Rob Chrystie, 21 Andy Miller, 22 Gregor Townsend


Recommendations: Got to take the Gunners @ -14 with Paddy Power but I’m going to be cautious here and take Edinburgh to win 11-15 on the winning margins @ 11-2 with VC Bet