Edinburgh will welcome back one of their favourite sons to BT Murrayfield tonight…but it won’t be former favourite Tim Visser.
There’s some relief for both interim head coach Duncan Hodge and for Vern Cotter’s Scotland plans for November with tight head WP Nel making his return from injury in the front row for today’s European Challenge Cup clash with Harlequins.
But Visser, Edinburgh’s top try scorer in the pro era and still a hugely popular figure with the fans in Black and Red, has been left out of the Quins team travelling north even after scoring twice in their opening round win over Stade Francais at The Stoop last week.
Nel’s return comes as Edinburgh swooped yesterday to sign the promising Puma prop Felipe Arregui as tight head cover. Only 22, Arregui made his debut for Argentina off the bench against South Africa in August during the Rugby Championship.
It’s a short-term deal until the end of January with Arregui looking to head back to the Jaguares Super Rugby squad where he played in the spring.
Arregui goes on to the bench today with Hodge making 12 changes from the team that ran up the points in Timisoara last week, a result made to look even better by Stade Francais somewhat toiling to beat the Romanians 27-0 in Paris on Thursday night.
Along with Nel, Hamish Watson and Phil Burleigh return from injury, the entire back three is change with Blair Kinghorn, Damien Hoyland and Tom Brown restoring the formation that went well against Treviso two weeks ago, while experienced hands Ross Ford and Grant Gilchrist also return.
Hodge has led Edinburgh to two victories in the last two games scoring points for fun but everyone appreciates that the standard of opposition is about to be raised several notches with Quins coming up.
Even with Visser missing, the London club will still feature Lion Jamie Roberts, English internationals Chris Robshaw, Mike Brown, Marland Yarde and Joe Marler and the former Wallaby captain James Horwill skippers the side.
“There’s been a good buzz in the build up to this game and we’re excited about getting back in front of our fans and putting in another positive performance,” said Hodge.
“We’ve had two good wins in a row but we know we’ll have to raise our game against a quality Harlequins outfit. It’ll be a real measure of where we are at as a team and it’s a challenge we’re looking forward to.
“Having these players back from injury and rest should prove a real boost to the side.”
Fijian forward Viliame Mata could make his home debut for Edinburgh but it’ll be off the bench with Magnus Bradbury and Nasi Manu – a hat-trick hero in Romania – preferred to partner Watson in the back row.
Edinburgh: B Kinghorn; D Hoyland, C Dean, P Burleigh, T Broiwn; J Tovey, S Kennedy; R Sutherland, R Ford, WP Nel; B Toolis, G Gilchrist (capt); M Bradbury, H Watson, N Manu.
Replacements: S McInally, A Dell, F Arregui, F McKenzie, V Mata, S Hidalgo-Clyne, M Allen, G Bryce.
