Wednesday, 29 December 2010

The head coaches of Scotland’s two professional teams have today named their squads for the second instalment of this season’s Greaves Sports 1872 Cup which takes place at Murrayfield on Sunday 2 January (kick-off 5.35pm).
 
Glasgow Warriors go into the game on the back of a 30-18 win at Firhill in the first leg of the festive derby double-header, and head coach Sean Lineen today challenged his players to come up with a repeat performance and retain the much-prized silverware.
 
He said: “The players showed great spirit and patience in the last 20 minutes of Monday’s game and we are very much looking forward to the return because we just love playing at Murrayfield.
 
“We can also put ourselves in Edinburgh’s position because we’ve previously suffered a loss in week one. We know how Rob [Moffat] and the Edinburgh players will be feeling
 
“Monday was a very physical encounter, and there are still some bumps and bruises, but we are expecting much the same come Sunday.”
 
Glasgow will be without Scotland international centre Graeme Morrison who sustained a knee injury during the first leg of the Greaves Sports 1872 Cup. Although Morrison’s injury will keep him out of Sunday’s return, his injury is expected to take weeks rather than months to heal.
 
Added to the Glasgow squad are backs Peter Horne and Alex Dunbar and back-row Ryan Wilson.

Edinburgh, meanwhile, will look to extend a run of five wins in their last six home games when the Warriors visit this weekend.

Head coach Rob Moffat today called on his players to produce a more even performance than was the case in Maryhill on Monday and highlighted the importance of building pressure and momentum.

He said: “I felt that in the first match we played quite well in patches and in certain aspects of the game, but we need to have that level of intensity across the full 80 minutes if we’re to beat what is a really tenacious Glasgow side.

“What we didn’t do well enough on Monday was kick on when we started to put ourselves in a good position. We made a few errors at the wrong times and it let Glasgow off the hook at points when we could really have got on top of them.

“We know it’s going to take a massive effort from everyone to deliver a better result this weekend, but there was nothing you could fault in terms of the guys’ application, desire or physicality on Monday.

“It’s about bringing greater consistency to our game this time around and making sure that when we establish the platform, we really capitalise on it and push on for the win.

“We’ve won five of the last six at home, and we should take confidence from that record. I’m really keen that we give our supporters another win to start the new year in the right manner, and I’d like to put on record our thanks for the backing our fans gave us at Firhill.

“They travelled in really good numbers and we were extremely disappointed not to give them the outcome they wanted. We’ll be doing everything in our power to make sure it’s a different story this weekend.”

Lock forward Esteban Lozada and back-row David Denton have been added to the Edinburgh squad for Sunday’s match, along with scrum-halves Mike Blair and Ross Samson and wing Andrew Turnbull.

Centre Alex Grove will return to Worcester Warriors at the end of the week, his loan spell in the Scottish capital having finished. Moffat said: "I'd like to thank Alex for his efforts during his time at the club. He's a good professional and was well liked in the dressing room."

The respective Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors teams for Sunday's game will be circulated by media release on Friday.

Tickets for Sunday's game are available online (www.edinburghrugby.org and www.glasgowwarriors.org), by telephone (0131 346 5180 and 0844 800 3490), and in person at the Murrayfield Ticket Centre (off Roseburn Street) in Edinburgh or Greaves Sports on Gordon Street and Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow.

Edinburgh squad: Backs: Chris Paterson, Lee Jones, Jim Thompson, Tim Visser, Simon Webster, Andrew Turnbull, Ben Cairns, John Houston, Nick De Luca, James King, David Blair, Greig Laidlaw, Mike Blair, Ross Samson

Forwards: Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford, Geoff Cross, Andrew Kelly, Kyle Traynor, David Young, Esteban Lozada, Fraser McKenzie, Steven Turnbull, Craig Hamilton, Stuart McInally, Scott Newlands, Ross Rennie, Roddy Grant, Netani Talei, Alan MacDonald, Dave Denton.

Glasgow Warriors squad: Backs: Federico Aramburu, Alex Dunbar, Max Evans, Colin Gregor, Hefin O’Hare, Peter Horne, Ruaridh Jackson, DTH van der Merwe, Peter Murchie, Henry Pyrgos, Bernardo Stortoni
 
Forwards: John Barclay, Ryan Grant, Richie Gray, Dougie Hall, Robert Harley, Alastair Kellock, Moray Low, Aly Muldowney, Fergus Thomson, Kevin Tkachuk, Richie Vernon, Jon Welsh, Ryan Wilson
 
Following their respective red cards in the opening leg at Firhill, Edinburgh lock Scott MacLeod and Glasgow flanker Chris Fusaro are fit and available for selection pending the outcome of a discipline panel hearing at Murrayfield tonight.

This article was posted on 29-Dec-2010, 22:35 by Hugh Barrow.