Edinburgh v Benetton 15Oct 1715

[The Feral Goat]

15. Emiliano Boffelli (19)
14. Darcy Graham (54)
13. Mark Bennett (74)
12. James Lang (23)
11. Duhan van der Merwe (67)
10. Blair Kinghorn (122)
9. Henry Pyrgos (74)

1. Pierre Schoeman (87)
2. David Cherry (61)
3. WP Nel (175)
4. Sam Skinner (3)
5. Grant Gilchrist (178) CAPTAIN
6. Nick Haining (27)
7. Luke Crosbie (72)
8. Viliame Mata (98)

Replacements

16. Adam McBurney (14)
17. Boan Venter (29)
18. Luan de Bruin (11)
19. Jamie Hodgson (41)
20. Ben Muncaster (18)
21. Charlie Shiel (45)
22. Charlie Savala (15)
23. Chris Dean (124)

Unavailable: Stuart McInally, Jamie Ritchie, Ben Vellacott, Hamish Watson


Can we get good quality ball to that back 3 please.

[doedin]

Good looking team and strong bench. If we can get good fast ball to those backs then we could be scoring a few tries. However Benetton are no mugs and have a strong pack too. It all relies on Pyrgos at 9 - he needs to speed up his game a bit and keep the ball moving around the park. If he retreats back into a slow box kicking game then we will struggle. I suspect Blair will have been working on breakdown, clean ball and fast distribution all week!

[Tichtheid]

Luke Crosbie needs to work on his ball-punch after scoring - that was a shocker.


It looks like we have a couple of gears to get through and we'll tear them apart, but it's whether we can get through those gears - Benneton have made a lot of tackles in defence and that can take its toll, but we have a habit of being too slow out the blocks in the second half and ceding momentum.

Sam Skinner is such a great addition to our squad, I have to admit that I never really appreciated how good he is until now.

Mon laddies, let's nail them in the second half.

[KenMavor]

Luke Crosbie needs to work on his ball-punch after scoring - that was a shocker.


It looks like we have a couple of gears to get through and we'll tear them apart, but it's whether we can get through those gears - Benneton have made a lot of tackles in defence and that can take its toll, but we have a habit of being too slow out the blocks in the second half and ceding momentum.

Sam Skinner is such a great addition to our squad, I have to admit that I never really appreciated how good he is until now.

Mon laddies, let's nail them in the second half.

I think they heard you....

[Tichtheid]

Luke Crosbie needs to work on his ball-punch after scoring - that was a shocker.


It looks like we have a couple of gears to get through and we'll tear them apart, but it's whether we can get through those gears - Benneton have made a lot of tackles in defence and that can take its toll, but we have a habit of being too slow out the blocks in the second half and ceding momentum.

Sam Skinner is such a great addition to our squad, I have to admit that I never really appreciated how good he is until now.

Mon laddies, let's nail them in the second half.

I think they heard you....

Very good second half.

It's all about the pack, that backline will cause anyone problems, but the pack really upped the ante today.
I've made no secret of my wanting Charlie Shiel on the park, his pass has such zip to it. I don't care that he misses a box kick, he brings pace to the game, more even than Vellacott in fact because his pass has such zip to it.

That was good today, we need to back it up in the coming weeks.

ps, Savala is growing game by game, he looked very good this evening

[The Feral Goat]

Missed game, but that is good result against a Benetton team that were going well, good to get back to winning ways.

[Pitfitter446]

Worth every minute of traffic jam frustration.

[liveinhope]

Haining was excellent but I thought Crosbie could just as easily have been awarded MOM.He's been pretty ruthless this season and must be very much in line for inclusion in at the very least one or two of the 23's over the four game Autumn series.Indeed with Ritchie and Watson both on the injury list he could well be a starter against Australia if either or both don't recover in time.
On a separate note I wonder what sort of team we will (be allowed) to put out next week? If Townsend wants to hold back his likely 23 (and possibly more) the Zebre game will be quite a test of our resources.

[doedin]

Excellent result against a stuffy Benetton team. Once the pack began to make inroads and fast ball appeared it was then only how many times will our backs score! Both Nel and Schoo carried really well and our back row were excellent. Crosbie is a mean bar steward and just what we need. As the game wore on Lang and Bennet really troubled the Benton defence - Lang is an excellent playmaker at 12 and Bennet just runs great lines at 13. Our back 3 - Graham, VdM and Bofelli are all world class and scared the sh1t out of the opposition.

Big difference from last week when we didnt seem to cope with the big hitting rush defence. Against most teams we will score tries and win but we do need to think again about our game when facing the bigger teams.

[Tichtheid]

Haining was excellent but I thought Crosbie could just as easily have been awarded MOM.He's been pretty ruthless this season and must be very much in line for inclusion in at the very least one or two of the 23's over the four game Autumn series.Indeed with Ritchie and Watson both on the injury list he could well be a starter against Australia if either or both don't recover in time.
On a separate note I wonder what sort of team we will (be allowed) to put out next week? If Townsend wants to hold back his likely 23 (and possibly more) the Zebre game will be quite a test of our resources.

I feel it’s really important that we win in Italy next week, then we have Cardiff away and Benetton away either side of the AI, so we’ll be without our internationals then

Venter, McBurney, DeBruin, Sykes, Hodgson, Kunavula, Boyle, Muncaster
Pyrgos, Savala, Hoyland, Lang, Dean, Goosen, Immellman

Is not a bad lineup, I guess a lot depends on the opposition

[dolf_lundgren]

It is important and its a pity we arent at home as more likely to get players avalable.

In the back row, I think we will have Haining, if Dempsey and Fagerson are available then I dont think he wll be needed. Bradbury will come into the mix for the other games too.

Is Vellacott likely to be back? He was limping a fair bit at the game on Saturday, as was Jamie Ritchie, so he may be a doubt for Scotland.

Its amazinghow quickly we can go from a position of strength at openside to struggling in a couple of weeks. Assume Watson will be ok and Dylan Richardson has been going well with the Sharks. Luke Crosbie in good form too though.

I think we may well lose Lang for the first game too, with Johnson injured, there isnt a huge amount of depth in the centre.

[Tichtheid]

It is important and its a pity we arent at home as more likely to get players avalable.

In the back row, I think we will have Haining, if Dempsey and Fagerson are available then I dont think he wll be needed. Bradbury will come into the mix for the other games too.

Is Vellacott likely to be back? He was limping a fair bit at the game on Saturday, as was Jamie Ritchie, so he may be a doubt for Scotland.

Its amazinghow quickly we can go from a position of strength at openside to struggling in a couple of weeks. Assume Watson will be ok and Dylan Richardson has been going well with the Sharks. Luke Crosbie in good form too though.

I think we may well lose Lang for the first game too, with Johnson injured, there isnt a huge amount of depth in the centre.

Matt Scott had a really good game for Leicester on Sunday, he even had Dayglo and O'Driscoll complimenting his play.
Redpath, Hutchinson, Harris, Bennett & Tuipulotu are all fit.

I read elsewhere that Toonie has approached Tom Roebuck of Sale, he was born in Inverness.


edit, soz, I didn't notice that you were talking about the first game, for which the England-based centres won't be available.