1
Damien Hoyland to make final home appearance for Edinburgh from start
By PA
Damien Hoyland has been handed a farewell start for Edinburgh in their final home match of the season.
The winger will make his 105th appearance for the club in Saturday’s BKT United Rugby Championship fixture against Ospreys, eight days after it was announced he would be leaving at the end of the season.
Scrum-half Henry Pyrgos could also get the chance of a final appearance at the DAM Health Stadium off the bench.
Head coach Mike Blair is also preparing for his final home game in charge after his recent decision to step down in order to focus on becoming a specialist attack coach.
“This is a massive game for both our players and the fans,” said Blair, whose team are 14th in the URC standings.
“The results haven’t gone our way, but we’ve been working especially hard in training to change this around and we want to put in a display that will make the Edinburgh supporters proud.
“There are guys playing their final home game for the club, while there are also guys who’ll be keen to show what they’re about ahead of a big summer of rugby.
“Every player pulling on the jersey will be motivated for what is a really important match for the club.”
Lock Marshall Sykes starts after Grant Gilchrist was ruled out with a foot injury, while Jack Blain and Luke Crosbie are also unavailable.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Henry Arundell lined up for early England homecoming
3
Government provides bleak assessment on the state of the Premiership
4
Steve Borthwick handed fresh injury concern ahead of Six Nations
5
Latest Comments
So was I right to infer that you assumed a 1:1 correspondence between points and places?
If so why were you so evasive about admitting that?
I don't have much of an opinion about how it should be done. It isn't my preferred system as I think there should be a significant number of teams who qualify directly as a result of their performance in the previous year's CC. But I think 6/5/5 or 6/6/4 would probably make the most sense as splits if they ever did go over to the UEFA model.
Go to commentsStopping the drop off out of high school has to be of highest priority - there is a lot of rugby played at high school level, but the pathways once they leave are not there. Provincial unions need support here from Rugby Canada to prop up that space.
Concussion is also an issue that has seen sports like ultimate frisbee gain ground. All competitions and clubs should integrate touch rugby teams into their pathways. Whenever clubs play XVs games, they should also be taking 20mins to play a competitive touch rugby game too.
Then take rugby branding and move it away from the fringe game that only crazy people play and make it an exercise-first sport that caters to everyone including people who don't want contact.
Go to comments