Edinburgh seek to prolong a proud recent home record in the Heineken Cup when Northampton Saints visit Murrayfield on Saturday (kick-off 1.30pm) for a vital Pool 1 fixture.
The capital club have won each of the last four European ties played on home turf, beating Castres (pool phase opposition in this year’s competition), Ulster, Bath and Stade Francais.
They also recorded back-to-back victories over Northampton the last time the two clubs clashed, in the season 2000/01 Heineken Cup.
Chris Paterson and Allan Jacobsen, who contributed to both those wins, have today been named in the side for Saturday’s fixture.
The Edinburgh line-up shows one change from that which suffered a narrow 18-17 defeat on the first weekend of the Heineken Cup last Saturday. James King, who joined the club from Melrose in the summer after previously serving the Border Reivers and Italian outfit L’Aquila, will play at inside centre in place of Alex Grove, who has been named among the substitutes. It will be King’s first start for the club..
Head coach Rob Moffat today urged all his players to give the Murrayfield crowd another occasion to remember by claiming a further prize European scalp.
He said: “With the help of our fans, we’ve managed to put away a number of good sides at home in the past couple of seasons, and all the same ingredients need to be there again this weekend to make sure we achieve the right result.
“If we can produce a positive performance, and in particular start as well as we did in Cardiff last week, that will help get the crowd right behind us for what will be a massive challenge.
“I was pleased with a lot of what we did in last week’s game, but the harsh reality is that we only came away with one point when we put ourselves in a great position to claim four. The key this weekend is working hard to ensure we create the same sort of platform, then pushing on and completing the job.
“We’ve shown in the past couple of years what we’re capable of delivering at this level. The challenge now is to prove we can do it again.”
Discussing his decision to give King a Heineken Cup debut, Moffat confirmed that the midfielder’s displays in training have made him impossible to ignore.
He said: “James has worked extremely hard and extremely well since his arrival in the summer. All the coaches have been impressed with how he conducts himself, and his natural ability has never been in question. He looked comfortable when he came on a couple of weeks ago against Aironi, and really deserves this opportunity.
“Alex Grove and Ben Cairns have worked as a partnership for the first couple of months of the season, but we want people to keep putting their hands up and James has certainly done that. He’s a good communicator.
“It will be a big test for him, and for us all, on Saturday, but it’s one that we’re more than capable of rising to.”
EDINBURGH TEAM FOR HEINEKEN CUP POOL 1 MATCH AGAINST NORTHAMPTON SAINTS, SATURDAY 16 OCTOBER, MURRAYFIELD STADIUM, KICK-OFF 1.30PM
15 Chris Paterson
14 Jim Thompson
13 Ben Cairns
12 James King
11 Tim Visser
10 David Blair
9 Mike Blair
1 Allan Jacobsen
2 Ross Ford
3 Geoff Cross
4 Scott MacLeod
5 Fraser McKenzie
6 Alan MacDonald
8 Roddy Grant (captain)
7 Ross Rennie
REPLACEMENTS
16 Andrew Kelly
17 Kyle Traynor
18 David Young
19 Craig Hamilton
20 Netani Talei
21 Greig Laidlaw
22 Alex Grove
23 Mark Robertson
JOIN THE DEFENDERS OF THE CAPITAL FOR AN AFTERNOON OF HEAVENLY HEINEKEN CUP RUGBY WHEN THE SAINTS COME MARCHING IN. EDINBURGH vs NORTHAMPTON SAINTS, HEINEKEN CUP POOL 1, SATURDAY 16 OCTOBER 2010, KICK-OFF 1.30PM. FOR TICKETS, VISIT www.edinburghrugby.org , CALL 0131 346 5180 OR VISIT THE MURRAYFIELD TICKET CENTRE IN PERSON.
