Edinburgh new boys give coach Mike Blair a selection headache

Edinburgh head coach Mike Blair says he has been presented with a selection headache for this weekend after a bonus-point win over the Dragons at Rodney Parade.
Argentina full-back Emiliano Boffelli scored a try on his debut fro Edinburgh and made a big impressionArgentina full-back Emiliano Boffelli scored a try on his debut fro Edinburgh and made a big impression
Argentina full-back Emiliano Boffelli scored a try on his debut fro Edinburgh and made a big impression

With full-back Emiliano Boffelli and hooker Adam McBurney impressing on their debuts in the 30-14 victory in Wales, and new Scotland caps Jamie Hodgson, Marshall Sykes and Luke Crosbie all returning to the starting XV, Blair admits he will have difficult decisions to make.

"I said to the players that this was their opportunity – a lot of these guys haven’t had much rugby over the last eight weeks or so, whether that be sitting on the bench in the 23 for Scotland, or not being involved in our squad," said Blair.

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"I said to them to go out there and make it a difficult selection decision next week for our game against Benetton and they’ve certainly done that, they were outstanding.

"It’ll be really difficult for us to select a team but at the same time you’d rather it was this case where the guys are playing well and you’ve got options rather than only having one guy putting their hand up."

Then Capital side dominated in terms of territory and possession and could easily have won by a greater margin than.

Damien Hoyland scored a last-minute try to secure all five points on offer which gave Edinburgh a third successive URC victory. The result means Blair’s men remain top of the Scottish/Italian URC Conference.

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"I'm really pleased with the effort the boys put in," added Blair.

"The intent we went out with in that first half playing into the wind, holding on to the ball, playing really good quick rugby was excellent to see.

"I thought Dragons played really well in the second half, they really stretched our defence but we showed some good resilience."

Ramiro Moyano scored two tries as Edinburgh deservedly picked up the spoils. Boffelli and Damien Hoyland also scored tries, with two penalties and a pair of conversions from Blair Kinghorn completing the scoring.

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It was a miserable night for the Dragons, who lost Taine Basham and Jack Dixon in the first half, but they managed two tries from Jonah Holmes and Sam Davies, with Davies converting both.

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