Edinburgh Rugby feed internationalists back into team for visit of Dragons

John Barclay returns to the Edinburgh starting XV. Pic: SNS

Edinburgh welcome Scotland internationals John Barclay and Ben Toolis back into their team for the Guinness PRO14 encounter against Dragons.

The pair are joined by Simon Berghan, Grant Gilchrist and Jamie Ritchie on the bench as Richard Cockerill gets more players back following the World Cup.

Winger Duhan Van Der Merwe is recalled after missing last weekend’s defeat to Benetton on the back of his hat-trick in a 46-7 win over Scarlets. Stand-off Simon Hickey also returns to the starting line-up.

Edinburgh lost 18-16 in Italy last weekend and although Cockerill was frustrated at refereeing decisions going against them, he felt his side started softly and lacked discipline.

So he has made his players fully aware of what is required at BT Murrayfield on Friday night.

Head coach Cockerill said: “While we were obviously disappointed at the Benetton loss, it works both ways.

“We’re never as bad as we think, but we also certainly weren’t as good as we thought from the Scarlets game the previous week.

“We have had a good review this week and we have made sure there’s no misunderstanding around parts of our game where we need to get better.

“We want a good win and we’re looking forward to being back in front of our home support at BT Murrayfield. With five points, we would be starting to get ourselves into the play-off mix, if not cemented in the mix.”

Edinburgh Rugby team to face Dragons at BT Murrayfield in the Guinness PRO14 on Friday, November 8 (kick-off 7.35pm): Blair Kinghorn; Eroni Sau, Mark Bennett, Matt Scott, Duhan van der Merwe; Simon Hickey, Henry Pyrgos; Pierre Schoeman, Mike Willemse, Pietro Ceccarelli, Lewis Carmichael, Ben Toolis, John Barclay, Luke Crosbie, Magnus Bradbury. Replacements: Cameron Fenton, Rory Sutherland, Simon Berghan, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie, Charlie Shiel, Jaco van der Walt, George Taylor.