Scotland flanker Ross Rennie is poised to make his long-awaited comeback for Edinburgh in the team’s Heineken Cup Pool Four match against Bath at Murrayfield on Saturday (19 December, kick off 1.35pm, live on Sky Sports) after a year-long absence with a knee injury.
The 23-year-old last featured in a competitive match for Edinburgh 12 months ago when he helped the team to an 1872 Cup win over Glasgow on Boxing Day 2008.
He underwent surgery soon after that and, following some intensive rehabilitation work, featured for Gael Force against Exeter Chiefs in the British and Irish Cup last month.
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Now the highly-rated openside, voted Edinburgh’s Players’ Player of the Season two years ago, has reclaimed the number seven jersey for the visit of English giants, Bath.
Head coach Rob Moffat welcomed his return to the starting line-up, but stressed the player Rennie has replaced – Roddy Grant – has performed well for Edinburgh.
Moffat said: “It is great to be able to welcome Ross back into the team – he is a quality player.
“But we are fortunate because we have three quality sevens in our squad; Ross, Roddy and Alan MacDonald.
“Roddy has been outstanding for us so far this season, but there is a lot of rugby left to be played this season.
“So we felt it was the right time to bring Ross back into the starting line-up and it will be great to see him back on the pitch in an Edinburgh shirt.”
Rennie’s inclusion is one of three changes to the pack that featured at The Rec on Sunday with Kyle Traynor replacing Allan Jacobsen in the front row and lock Craig Hamilton coming in for Scott MacLeod.
The back line remains unchanged from the previous game and Chris Paterson will captain the team on Saturday – marking his 50th appearance for Edinburgh in the Heineken Cup.
The 31-year-old full-back made his European debut for Edinburgh against Grenoble at Netherdale on Friday 19 November 1999.
Since then he has featured in famous Heineken Cup wins over Toulouse and London Wasps during his career at Edinburgh and Paterson says he is looking forward to celebrating hitting the half-century with a victory.
Paterson said: "It would be really special to mark the occasion with a win over Bath. Over the past 10 years, we have managed to beat the likes of Wasps and Toulouse at home in the Heineken Cup and it would be great to be able to add Bath to that list."
Back row forward David Callam is in line to record his second Edinburgh appearance of the season after being named amongst the replacements.
He comes into the squad in place of Allister Hogg who is scheduled to undergo surgery to repair a hip injury at Spire Murrayfield Hospital on Wednesday 23 December.
But stand-off David Blair is ruled out after injuring his ankle during the weekend defeat at The Rec and he joins his older brother Mike (ankle) in the treatment room
On the injury front, club captain Simon Cross is still out with a knee injury alongside Andrew Easson (knee) while prop Ryan Grant is out with an ankle injury.
Scotland lock Jim Hamilton (knee) is close to returning to the team while Simon Webster is still out with a hamstring injury.
Edinburgh Rugby Club team to play Bath at Murrayfield (Saturday 19 December, kick-off 1.35pm, live on Sky Sports)
15 Chris Paterson (captain)
14 John Houston
13 Ben Cairns
12 Nick De Luca
11 Tim Visser
10 Phil Godman
9 Greig Laidlaw
1 Kyle Traynor
2 Ross Ford
3 Geoff Cross
4 Steve Turnbull
5 Craig Hamilton
6 Alan MacDonald
7 Ross Rennie
8 Scott Newlands
Substitutes: Andrew Kelly, Allan Jacobsen, David Young, Scott MacLeod, David Callam, Ross Samson, Mark Robertson, Jim Thompson.
