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Viliame Mata to make Edinburgh milestone against Zebre
By PA
Fiji international Viliame Mata will become the first non-Scotland-qualified player to reach 100 Edinburgh appearances when he lines up against Zebre on Saturday in Italy.
The back-row forward will become the 37th player to reach the milestone at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Parma as Edinburgh continue their BKT United Rugby Championship campaign.
Head coach Mike Blair said: “We’re delighted to see Bill make his 100th appearance for the club and the guys will be determined to put in a performance that reflects the occasion.
“It’ll be a proud moment for Bill and his family as he becomes the first overseas, non-Scottish qualified player to reach the milestone in Edinburgh Rugby history and we’ve talked a lot this week around using that emotion and pride in Bill as catalyst come game time.”
Former Hurricanes winger Wes Goosen will make his debut after injury delayed his impact since his summer move from New Zealand.
Elsewhere, Chris Dean and Matt Currie form a revamped midfield and hooker Adam McBurney makes his first start of the season.
Blair said: “A number of players who’ve not been involved in recent weeks get their opportunity and they’re champing at the bit to make an impact.
“Zebre have been really impressive so far this season and are always a tough match-up at home, so we’ll need to be on it both mentally and physically from the first whistle.”
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To be fair it was nowhere bear the Leinster first team (for which, btw, Leinster copped nothing like the outrage that Jake White did for sending a rotated team to the UK). But it’s fun to watch the Stormers doing their thing. They are attracting big, diverse crowds of young fans, and deservedly so. Great to see.
Go to commentsIt might be legal but he’s sailing pretty close to the wind. Not a lot needs to go wrong for Finau to end up in the bin. Was it late? Not quite, but borderline. High? A couple of CM within the laws, no room for error with that one. Did he wrap the arms? There was a token effort to wrap one arm, the intent was clearly to hit with the shoulder. So yeah, it’s legal, just. But as we all know, a very slight change in the dynamics could easily have him seeing red. Hopefully not when it really matters.
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