Bulls v Edinburgh - 31May 1230 -Loftus

[The Feral Goat]

Quite the injury list going into the QF

Duhan van der Merwe (ankle) – Has returned to training.

Grant Gilchirst (hamstring) – Will undergo fitness test ahead of Saturday’s Quarter-Final.

Ross McCann (foot) – Has returned to training.

Charlie Shiel (kidney) – Sustained injury against Ulster. Will not return this season.

Ben Vellacott (foot) – Expected back in mid-July.

Mosese Tuipulotu (knee) – Timeline for recovery still to be determined following successful surgery.

Paul Hill (back) – Continues his rehabilitation. Expected back in mid-July.

Robert Carmichael (wrist) – Continues his rehabilitation and is expected back in June.

Luke Crosbie (pec) – Out until June.

Connor Boyle (knee) – Expected back in September.

Dave Cherry (knee) – Will not return this season.

Emiliano Boffelli (hamstring) – Will not return this season.

Matt Scott (back) – Will not return this season.

Jamie Hodgson (tricep) – Will not return this season

[dolf_lundgren]

From the interview with Sean Everitt it did sound like Duhan would make it, he is certainly on the plane.

Scrum half is the big issue obviously, if we lose Ali Price then we are relying on an academy player, but as that is the plan for next year anyway, we had better get used to that!

Gilchrist being available would be a huge boost, probably more than Duhan. I would also start Jamie Ritchie and bring Muncaster off the bench.

Lineout will again be really important, if we could fix that it would make a massive difference for us.

[Pitfitter1105]

Don’t know about a scrum half but we may need a Matador or similar to see off the bulls, hope not, still hopeful.

[Castlecannon]

Lineout has been better last few games and Ritchie might now possibly start v Bulls with Gilchrist on injury list given lineout prowess .

Confident we can win this however, main concern is mentality and edge which may have shaded a bit now we have qualified for next season’s champions cup and players not wanting to miss out on summer tour selection with injury.

[Wottie]

+ve elements that could point to an ER win:
1. Recent run of form and physicality
2. Possibility that DVM could be fit
3. ER back row firing on all cylinders at last
4. Free hit as not expected to win. No pressure.
5. Thomson's recent form, in particular with kicking from hand & Lang in the Centre.

-ve elements that could point to an ER losing:
1. Away fixture nearly 8,500 miles away.
2. Intimidating stadium with virtually no travelling support
3. 1,350 meters above sea level (anyone who does high level walking will appreciate!)
4. ER Injury list
5. The Physicality of the Bulls
6. Scrum Half cover is wafer thin
7. Line out
8. Famous Scottish mental frailty

Over the piece, I think Bulls will be too strong at home, but we have a free shot at this and if we pull it off, it will be one of the greatest results in ER's history. I'm excited!

[The Feral Goat]

15.⁠ ⁠Wes Goosen (54)
14.⁠ ⁠Darcy Graham (82)
13.⁠ ⁠Matt Currie (63)
12.⁠ ⁠James Lang (74)
11.⁠ ⁠Harry Paterson (16)
10.⁠ ⁠Ross Thompson (25)
9.⁠ ⁠Ali Price (40)

1.⁠ ⁠Pierre Schoeman (133)
2.⁠ ⁠Ewan Ashman (37)
3.⁠ ⁠D’arcy Rae (26)
4.⁠ ⁠Marshall Sykes (83)
5.⁠ ⁠Sam Skinner (43)
6.⁠ ⁠Jamie Ritchie (129)
7.⁠ ⁠Hamish Watson (178)
8.⁠ ⁠Magnus Bradbury (133) CAPTAIN

Replacements

16.⁠ ⁠Paddy Harrison (32)
17.⁠ ⁠Boan Venter (90)
18.⁠ ⁠Javan Sebastian (29)
19.⁠ ⁠Liam McConnell (3)
20.⁠ Ben Muncaster (47)
21.⁠ ⁠Conor McAlpine (1)
22.⁠ ⁠Ben Healy (38)
23.⁠ ⁠Mark Bennett (111)

Unavailable: Emiliano Boffelli (hamstring), Connor Boyle (knee), Robert Carmichael (wrist), Dave Cherry (knee), Luke Crosbie (pec), Grant Gilchrist (hamstring), Jamie Hodgson (tricep), Paul Hill (back), Duhan van der Merwe (ankle), Matt Scott (neck), Charlie Shiel (kidney), Mosese Tuipulotu (knee), Ben Vellacott (foot), Glen Young (personal).

[The Feral Goat]

Strong starting XV all things considered probably VDW and Gilchrist away from full strength.

Historically EDI v Bulls home team has always won, can we break the trend?

We know we can compete physically, we know we can score tries, but can we deliver away from the Hive.

[Wottie]

Ooft! Lot of pressure on Maggie tomorrow. Captaincy, getting us over the gain line from No. 8, and on top of this covering 2nd Row. Cometh the hour, cometh the man!

[Pitfitter1105]

Strong starting XV all things considered probably VDW and Gilchrist away from full strength.

Historically EDI v Bulls home team has always won, can we break the trend?

We know we can compete physically, we know we can score tries, but can we deliver away from the Hive.

If we shout loudly at the telly will that help?

[The Feral Goat]

Ref needs to sort the jamesmatthew around the edges of the breakdown.

Edinburgh need to get after the 9 more.

Decent first 40, need to be focused right from kick off of second half, it is our usual flat quarter.

[Frank]

Ref as weak as water. Bulls sealing off and turning round the side at every ruck. The last scrum penalty the Bulls LH collapses with our FR still scrummaging.
Anyone understand what the mitigation was for the head shot on Darcy? ½ wit Trimble suggesting "clumsy" was a genuine face palm moment.

Bulls resurgent towards the end of the half but if we tighten up our lines we can still win this.

[The Feral Goat]

Decent first 40, need to be focused right from kick off of second half, it is our usual flat quarter.

Sigh

[The Feral Goat]

[Pitfitter1105]

Ah well, right, let’s get behind Scarlets.

[Pitfitter1105]

Ref as weak as water. Bulls sealing off and turning round the side at every ruck. The last scrum penalty the Bulls LH collapses with our FR still scrummaging.
Anyone understand what the mitigation was for the head shot on Darcy? ½ wit Trimble suggesting "clumsy" was a genuine face palm .

A J almost as poor as *hitehouse, bulls running and landing at breakdown wherever they fancied, kinda par for the course, he ‘forgot’ he’d told bulls there would a yellow for another penalty! Was he overcome by excitement at Edinburgh scoring? Tired of listening to rambling Irish commentators when an Irish team is not involved, numpty today had Edinburgh beat at every moment, couldn’t they find someone-anyone from SA?

C’mon Scarlets.