Preview: Edinburgh v Leinster
Scrum-half Greig Laidlaw admits he is aiming to maintain his winning run during Edinburgh's final home match of the Magners League season against Leinster on Friday after lifting the Melrose Sevens trophy with the Scottish Thistles on Saturday.
Scrum-half Greig Laidlaw admits he is aiming to maintain his winning run during Edinburgh's final home match of the Magners League season against Leinster on Friday after lifting the Melrose Sevens trophy with the Scottish Thistles on Saturday.
Laidlaw has been handed his first start of the campaign after replacing Mike Blair in the number nine jersey with the Scotland captain ruled out for the match because of a head knock.
“It has been an unbelievably eventful couple of weeks for me,” he said.
“About a week ago I was in Australia with the Scotland Sevens squad, then I flew back to play for Edinburgh Accies against the Barbarians before winning the Melrose Sevens on Saturday.
“Now I have been given my first start for Edinburgh this season and hopefully I can use all the experiences I've picked up on my travels and put them to good use.”
Meanwhile, Scotland centre Nick De Luca returns to first team duties after a lay-off with an ankle injury to partner Ben Cairns in midfield.
But Scotland prop Craig Smith (calf) is ruled out and joins Andrew Turnbull (head knock), Roland Reid (hamstring), Allan Jacobsen (groin), Ross Rennie (knee) and Simon Cross (lower back) in the treatment room.
For Leinster Brian O'Driscoll returns and will make his 100th appearance for the province.
Form: Edinburgh have won just one of their last six matches: 38-8 over Connacht at Murrayfield in the Magners League on 21 March. The capital side have won three of their last four games against Irish teams at Murrayfield. Leinster require five match points and a victory from their three remaining games to become the Magners League champions for the second time. Should the Irishmen win in Edinburgh they would tie their own league record for successive victories – eleven set during their first 11 league games between 2001-02. The two sides have already met on three occasions this season with Leinster taking the Magners League clash 23-8 at the RDS in September, whilst each team won its respective home game in the pool stages of the European Cup. Leinster's only previous win on Edinburgh soil was 31-8 at Murrayfield in the league on 26 May 2006.
Edinburgh: 15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Simon Webster, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 John Houston, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 David Callam, 7 Alan MacDonald, 6 Allister Hogg (c), 5 Ben Gissing, 4 Matt Mustchin, 3 Gavin Kerr, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Augusto Allori.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Geoff Cross, 18 Craig Hamilton, 19 Scott Newlands, 20 Ben Meyer, 21 David Blair, 22 Calum MacRae.
Leinster: 15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Luke Fitzgerald, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Rob Kearney, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Chris Whitaker, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Stephen Keogh, 5 Trevor Hogan, 4 Leo Cullen (c), 3 Stan Wright, 2 Bernard Jackman, 1 Ollie le Roux.
Replacements: (from) Brian Blaney, Stephen Knoop, Malcolm O'Kelly, Cameron Jowitt, Keith Gleeson, Chris Keane, Christian Warner, Michael Berne, Gary Brown.
Date: Friday April 18
Venue: Murrayfield
Kick-off: 19:30 (18:30 GMT)
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)