Edinburgh v Southern Kings

Head Coach Richard Cockerill has been boosted by the return of recent Scotland call-ups David Cherry, Luke Crosbie and Chris Dean ahead of tomorrow evening’s Guinness PRO14 encounter against Isuzu Southern Kings at Madibaz Stadium (Saturday 26 January kick-off 3.15pm GMT/ 5.15pm local time) – live on Premier Sports 2

The uncapped trio – who were released from Scotland camp earlier this week - are named in the starting line-up as the team selection includes nine changes to the side that secured an historic Heineken Champions Cup victory against Montpellier last Friday night.

Pierre Schoeman, Bill Mata, Henry Pyrgos, Jaco van der Walt, James Johnstone and Dean all retain their place in the starting XV as the capital side search for their second victory over their Conference B rivals this month.

Ahead of the fixture in Port Elizabeth, which sees Edinburgh make their first ever visit to the Madibaz Stadium, Cockerill said: “We’ve had a tough and intense week of training in Port Elizabeth and the boys are looking forward to going up against a combative Southern Kings side.

“The players should take credit for our good run of form, but we’ve got to back it up at the Madibaz Stadium tomorrow evening.

“We certainly won’t take our opponents lightly. We will need to be at the top of our game, both mentally and physically, if we are to secure all points on offer come full-time.”

Fullback Dougie Fife returns to action for the first time since being named as man of the match in the 38-0 victory over the Southern Kings three-weeks ago.

The Scotland international is joined in the back-three by Tom Brown and James Johnstone, with the latter switching to the wing after nailing down the number 13 jersey in recent weeks.

Dean is partnered in midfield by Fosroc Scottish Rugby Academy graduate, George Taylor, whilst an unchanged half-back paring sees Van der Walt once again link-up with experienced scrum-half, Pyrgos.

In the front-row, Schoeman packs down alongside hooker Cherry – who last week was one of 12 Edinburgh players named in Scotland’s Six Nations squad – and Italian international Pietro Ceccarelli.

Fraser McKenzie – who returned from injury to skipper the capital side to victory over Southern Kings three-weeks-ago – is once again named as captain and is partnered in the second-row by Callum Hunter-Hill.

Fijian international No.8, Mata – who this week was named as one of 15 nominees for EPCR European Player of the Year – anchors a back-row featuring Ally Miller and blindside flanker, Crosbie.



Edinburgh team to face Southern Kings at the Madibaz Stadium in the Guinness PRO14 on Saturday 26 January (kick-off 3.15pm GMT/ 5.15pm local time) – live on Premier Sports 2



15. Dougie Fife (119)



14. Tom Brown (116)

13. George Taylor (2)

12. Chris Dean (80)

11. James Johnstone (34)



10. Jaco van der Walt (31)

9. Henry Pyrgos (16)



1. Pierre Schoeman (14)

2. David Cherry (12)

3. Pietro Ceccarelli (6)

4. Fraser McKenzie (108) CAPTAIN

5. Callum Hunter-Hill (11)

6. Luke Crosbie (22)

7. Ally Miller (4)

8. Viliame Mata (52)



Replacements: 16. Ross Ford (190); 17. Darryl Marfo (11); 18. Murray McCallum (46) 19. Jamie Hodgson (4). 20. Mungo Mason (1) 21. Nathan Fowles (68) 22. Simon Hickey (14) 23. Juan Pablo Socino (13)



Unavailable due to injury: Rory Sutherland; Lewis Carmichael; John Barclay; Magnus Bradbury; Senitiki Nayalo; Hamish Watson; Matt Scott; Mark Bennett; Damien Hoyland

Unavailable due to international selection: Allan Dell; WP Nel; Simon Berghan; Stuart McInally; Grant Gilchrist; Ben Toolis; Jamie Ritchie; Darcy Graham; Blair Kinghorn

Decent team all things considered - saved by getting some Scotland players back.

Surprised to see McCallum as 4th choice - last summer he looked like he was ready to make the next step.

Should have enough to win this - we really need a BP though.

Where's Duhan? He's not listed as injured.

Duhan took a knock last week, likely just being rested.  Probably not officially injured, but could do with a week or so to let it settle

Strange that JJ is on the wing though.

A decent team out for Edinburgh.

Dean, Crosbie and Cherry must have flown down on the red eye over Wednesday night. It will have been worth it if Edinburgh win though.

The MadiBaz stadium eh!

If you say it in a weegie accept, it sound like you are calling someone a crazed child born out of wedlock

But then if you say anything in a weegie accept it sound like a threat!

Hope Edinburgh don’t do a Glasgow

Looking at more Edinburgh tweets, Matt Scott and Luke Hamilton are both training in SA too - hopefully that means they're not far away. I'm fairly certain it was Bradbury too.

A big expense to take them to SA if they're not close to playing.

Mata should not have picked that ball up, they were going over

Kings hook their prop at 23 mins, which shows how dominant Edinburgh scrum is there.

This is Edinburgh's game if they just play it tight

Dean is playing well for Edinburgh, he is going to be a genuine option for Scotland if he carry's on like this

BigGee wrote:Kings hook their prop at 23 mins, which shows how dominant Edinburgh scrum is there.

This is Edinburgh's game if they just play it tight

Their scrum looks much better now with the replacement prop.

Sounds like a frustrating half?

VdW lucky to get away scot-free here

13 - 7 Kings at HT

Edinburgh very sluggish and not looking after the ball, looks like the travel and the heat has caught up with them.

They have the Stats though and Kings have put a massive amount into that half, pushing up towards 100 tackles already. It might come down to who has the legs

Cockers will be going spare though, there are points to be had from this game.

Not watching the Edinburgh game as the commentator's voice is making my ears bleed so its Dragons vs the bad guys for me. Seems a tough game for the luvvies - Kings are no mugs when they fancy a game.

The ref is making a complete Horlicks of the scrum, this scrum has been going on for minutes and he won't card one of the Kings front row

A 32 phase pick and go set eventually yields an Edinburgh try!

Not exactly free flowing stuff and the backs must think they are playing a different game, but it will do

Sounds like a lot of effort for not much reward just now...

A 32 phase pick and go is the most Cockers thing I've ever heard.

Spoke too soon! Still making hard work of it

Gone to TMO now

No try, Mata knock it on!

Unbeleivable

This ref is awful

Was it a knock on?

EWT Spoons wrote:This ref is awful

Beyond awful, another scrum penalty and no card

RDW wrote:Was it a knock on?

The try, yes

and finally a card, only half an hour to late

Penalty try

Turned it on just in time to see the PT!

And we knock on the restart

Jesus Christ this is awful!

What a catalogue of errors from both teams

Edinburgh don't need to play like this

I probably shouldn't have been so derogatory of the Glasgow performance (although it was fully deserved!)

How was that not a knock on?

That was not subtle from the Kings

That should have been another card for collapsing that maul

I think Cockers is going to have a lot to say about the ref. Kings should have had 3 or 4 cards just in the 5 minutes I've watched!

Right let's get the 4th ffs

Try Ross Ford, he has had a good impact since coming on

Life in the old dog yet

With Glasgow last night, Dragons Munster finishing 7-8 and now this nonsense I've really not had good luck watching rugby this weekend.

And just as I type that Ross Ford scores a try. We're truly through the looking glass now folks.

Good man VDW

Eejit wrote:With Glasgow last night, Dragons Munster finishing 7-8 and now this nonsense I've really not had good luck watching rugby this weekend.

And just as I type that Ross Ford scores a try. We're truly through the looking glass now folks.

Not a great advert for the Pro 14 is it

Absolute nonsense ref

That was another awful call JJ into the bin

RDW wrote:

Eejit wrote:With Glasgow last night, Dragons Munster finishing 7-8 and now this nonsense I've really not had good luck watching rugby this weekend.

And just as I type that Ross Ford scores a try. We're truly through the looking glass now folks.

Not a great advert for the Pro 14 is it

Bit harsh on British and Irish Lion Ross Ford!

What the hell is the deal with this ref, he's an absolute nightmare

Now it is game on

Thank feck he got that conversion!

Oh Edinburgh, that was awful

Forward pass!