Glasgow have dropped livewire crowd favourite Niko Matawalu for the first leg of the 1872 Cup derby matches against Edinburgh at Murrayfield on Boxing Day.
The Fijian is not even in the squad for the first game as the Warriors seek to retain the cup for the fifth successive year, as Gregor Townsend continues his policy of making changes, even though last Friday’s match against Treviso was postponed due to the wet weather.
Perhaps the other most surprising change in the Warriors lineup is Scotland full-back Stuart Hogg starting at outside centre, a position that he had been earmarked for under former international head coach Andy Robinson.
Hogg wasn’t in the proposed starting XV for Treviso and Sean Maitland stays at full-back, where he played for Scotland throughout the Autumn Tests.
Hogg has been tried at 13 in the past without a huge amount of success, but it’s long been thought it would eventually be his best position.
It means lining up alongside the man who is currently favourite to hold the 13 shirt for Scotland in the Six Nations, team-mate Alex Dunbar.
Tommy Seymour and DTH van der Merwe are the wings, and with Chris Cusiter skippering the side and playing scrum-half there’s no place on the bench for Matawalu, with Henry Pyrgos’ presence suggesting the Warriors will be going for a more pragmatic approach than they showed in their two Heineken Cup defeats to Cardiff.
“Although there was the disappointment of having our game postponed on Friday night, the bonus of not playing at the weekend is that we’ve been able to cover a lot in training over the last couple of days,” said Townsend.
“We have a lot of respect for Edinburgh and they have secured some great results in recent weeks.
“They have quality players throughout their team and a game plan that they execute well. It should be a cracking match.”
With four wins in their last five games and now just a place behind their rivals in sixth place in the Rabodirect PRO12 table, Edinburgh head coach Alan Solomons has opted to leave well alone, making only one change from the team that defeated Leinster at Murrayfield on Friday night.
Wicus Blaauw will start at loose-head with Scotland internationalist Alasdair Dickinson on the bench, meaning that it’s a third game at 10 for Greig Tonks and a 100th Edinburgh appearance for Roddy Grant, who is preferred to Ross Rennie at openside.
“This is the oldest rugby derby in the world, so we must take cognisance of that rich history and tradition,” said Solomons.
“It’s a privilege for all the staff and players to be involved in it. Most derbies are tight, hotly-contested affairs, and I think that this one will be no different, and while there is a lot of emotion involved in these games, it’s a question of ensuring that the emotion is correctly channelled. The way to do that is by focusing on the elements on which you have got to deliver.”