Edinburgh coach Sean Everitt has decided to rest several senior forwards on Friday night when the team travel to Clermont for their opening fixture in this season’s Challenge Cup.
But he is confident that the squad are in a positive frame of mind ahead of the trip, thanks in no small measure to their league victory over Ulster in Belfast last Saturday. And he insisted yesterday that they are good enough to win the pool match in France - and to be contenders for the trophy itself.
“We are in a good place,” Everitt said. “We’ve had a look at Clermont and we believe we have the ability to turn them over at. It’s about being smart.
“To finish in the top eight in the URC is our goal, because it allows us to get into the Champions Cup. And that will always remain our goal. In saying that, we’ve got a good enough team to challenge for the Challenge Cup.”
A Scottish Rugby protocol prevents certain internationals from playing more than five games in a row, and Everitt has opted to rest three of them now in order to have them available for the upcoming double-header against Glasgow. “It’s the guys who have been playing regularly for us, guys like Jamie Ritchie, Pierre Schoeman and WP Nel,” he said. “And a guy like Grant [Gilchrist], who we feel we can give another week’s rest. He’s been carrying quite a big load.”
Duhan van der Merwe is available again after concussion, but his fellow-back-three team-mates Darcy Graham and Emiliano Boffelli are still a week or two away from a return following injury. And there is no date yet for Scott Steele to return - the Scotland scrum-half has been out for months with a hip condition that continues to need rest.
