WHILE much of the attention of Scottish rugby was fixed on Glasgow Warriors at the weekend, Edinburgh Rugby did themselves a power of good with the excellent performance against Harlequins.
The capital side really are now in hailing distance of the latter stages of the Challenge Cup, and it may be to them, rather than to the Warriors, that we must look to for Scottish success in Europe this season.
Let’s deal with Glasgow first: the rugby press went easy on Stuart Hogg for getting himself sent off with less than ten minutes to go of Glasgow’s frankly brutal encounter with Munster at Scotstoun, but it was understandable that there was forgiveness for the best player in Scotland because his offence was neither nasty nor deliberate.
It was a clear yellow card, because the laws are now quite explicit about any head contact, even with a limp arm. It’s just a pity that it came so late on and made Munster’s job of scoring the winning try just that bit easier.
There will be all sorts of attention on Glasgow’s bid to try and qualify for the quarter finals. They just have to beat Leicester Tigers at Welford Road, something only one team has done in the top European competition since 2006.
After their dismissal from the tournament by Racing 92 you might think the English side would have nothing to play for, but what’s that old story about wounded Tigers? It’s absolutely no gimme but Glasgow can do it.
Meanwhile Edinburgh are on a high after their great win over Harlequins. They proved they could go down south and beat a serious Aviva Premiership side, and now they must beat the minnows of Timisoara on Friday at their new home of Myreside.
The Rucker had a sneak preview of the new venue yesterday and while work is still going on, it is clear that Edinburgh Rugby have done a first class job in getting the Watsonians’ venue into top condition for the match.
The new temporary stand at the Morningside end of the ground looks very shiny and the whole place looks like a proper rugby venue that a crowd of 5,500 could turn into a very noisy and intimidating stadium.
Andy Irvine, no less, pointed out that Myreside has one advantage over Scotstouin: “This potentially could be even better because the players will be even closer to the spectators. There’s no running track in between them and that makes a massive difference.”
Coming from a Herioter that’s some praise, but surely Irvine is going too far in saying: “I personally think Edinburgh can match and probably surpass Glasgow when it comes to the potential for rugby support. Historically, it is only over the last ten years that Glasgow have really outstripped Edinburgh in support.”
He’s actually right about that, but Warriors have built up a strong support base and there’s no evidence that Edinburgh can match that as yet.
The potential is there, definitely, but perhaps Myreside on Friday can see Edinburgh win and score the bonus try which will take them into the quarter-finals for sure.
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