RugbyRebels

BaldiePete wrote: ↑Fri Jan 02, 2026 12:48 pm Edinburgh team for Benetton on Saturday. Forwards probably going to be OK but I wouldn’t expect the backs to be any better than they have been. I can’t see Thompson bringing them any more to bring them into the game than Scott has. In VDMs absence Goosen is playing on the left wing. That’s his 3rd position so far this season. The replacements are uninspiring with McConnell the only one likely to have an impact.

Glasgow have lost their last 2 matches away to Benetton who are very good at home, so big challenge for Edinburgh
That said season before that Glasgow won in a low scoring game, difference between the sides was Ross Thomson. Again, that said was poor conditions and heavy-ish pitch, Thomson's tactical kicking controlled the game

Looking back at Edinburgh results they haven’t beaten Benetton in Italy since October 2017.

Yeam looks okay on paper to me, juat no idea how they will perform.

At least whatever happens for the rest of this season whoever is coaching them next year will have a crop of youngsters with a reasonable level of experience.

Edinburgh win 15-14 in yet another terrible match. 15-0 up after 50 minutes they were clinging on to a single point lead at the end, which was almost the most typically Edinburgh end of a match you will see. Penalty to Edinburgh given after 79 minutes, Scott allows the clock to go past 80 then kicks. Surely game over, but no, the ball hits the post, comes back into play and they have to survive three more minutes as Benetton get upfield to the Edinburgh 10 before making a mistake to end the game. I was expecting Edinburgh to be penalised and Benetton to kick the winning penalty.

Douglas was POTM, which was well deserved. They need to keep starting him but with Everitt you never know, he doesn’t trust his young players and is only playing them when injuries dictate that he has to. A competent coach would have rotated them into the strongest team rather than playing them when he’s no choice. Schoeman and Morris had to play the full match yesterday and will have been totally knackered at the end. Jerry Blyth-Lafferty and Whitcombe were simply there as injury cover rather than being brought into the game to bring fresh energy to the front row.

Anyway, it the first win in Treviso since 2017 and they climb to the dizzying heights of 10th in the league.

Is this not bringing on subs thing a Scotland wide theory or simply a reflecgion of our bench options? I'm all for reducing the number of subs, just not unilaterally!

Glasgow use their replacements well so it’s an Everitt and Townsend thing.

BaldiePete wrote: ↑Sun Jan 04, 2026 11:05 pm Glasgow use their replacements well so it’s an Everitt and Townsend thing.

Sometimes, though Smith fairly often leaves people on the bench or only brings them on right at the end. From memoray, the Scarlets game they got nilled in was an example.

Edinburgh team for the European match against Gloucester. They’re having an even worse season than Edinburgh so this could be a cripple fight to see who drops into the diddy cup. From comments this week Everitt knows that the problem with the attack is a failure to get the ball to the back 3 in a way that allows them to make the best of their talents. That is definitely the case but I don’t think anyone is convinced that Everitt is the coach who can do that.

It’s a 6:2 bench which means Lang will be covering 10. Academy player Euan McVie might get his first start.

It’s a very inexperienced starting front row with strength and experience on the bench. Can Everitt make the best of that and use the bench to Edinburgh’s advantage? Past experience doesn’t bode well.

I like the back row a lot, it’s very well balanced and it’s good to see the young guys making the most of their opportunities. Half backs are the perennial problem. Vellacott has neither a great pass or kicking game and Thompson is half the player he promised to be when he was at Glasgow.

15.⁠ ⁠Wes Goosen (65)

14.⁠ ⁠Darcy Graham (89)
13.⁠ ⁠Matt Currie (68)
12.⁠ ⁠James Lang (83)
11.⁠ ⁠Duhan van der Merwe (109)

10.⁠ ⁠Ross Thompson (32)
9.⁠ ⁠Ben Vellacott (84)

1.⁠ ⁠James Whitcombe (2)
2.⁠ ⁠Harri Morris (11)
3.⁠ ⁠Ollie Blyth-Lafferty (6)
4.⁠ ⁠Callum Hunter-Hill (26)
5.⁠ ⁠Glen Young (57)
6.⁠ ⁠Liam McConnell (15)
7.⁠ ⁠Freddy Douglas (14)
8.⁠ ⁠Magnus Bradbury (143) CAPTAIN

Replacements

16.⁠ ⁠Ewan Ashman (45)
17.⁠ ⁠Pierre Schoeman (143)
18.⁠ ⁠Paul Hill (24)
19.⁠ ⁠Euan McVie*
20.⁠ ⁠Tom Dodd (17)
21.⁠ ⁠Ben Muncaster (50)
22.⁠ ⁠Charlie Shiel (82)
23.⁠ ⁠Piers O’Conor (9)

Unavailable: Charlie McCaig (knee), Rhys Litterick (achilles), Rob Carmichael (wrist), Mosese Tuipulotu (knee), Tom Currie (knee), Luke Crosbie (hamstring), D’arcy Rae (ankle), Sam Skinner (hamstring), Paddy Harrison (back), Marshall Sykes (arm), Harry Paterson (hamstring), Findlay Thomson (hand), Boan Venter (neck), Dylan Richardson (ribs), Grant Gilchrist (quad), Conor McAlpine (hamstring)