Edinburgh's Scotland stars return for visit of Benetton

Wing duo Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham and scrum-half Ali Price all return behind the scrum, while Edinburgh’s pack is bolstered by the inclusion of Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie and Ben Muncaster from the senior Scotland squad.  

Sam Skinner is also in line to make his first appearance of the season after having knee surgery in the summer.

He is on the bench alongside openside Douglas, who could make his club debut two weeks after winning his first Scotland cap in the win over Portugal.  

He then won the Player of the Match award for Scotland ‘A’ against Chile last weekend.  

Everitt explained why Edinburgh fans have had to wait until now to see the highly-rated openside.  

“We travelled [to South Africa] early, and we took a wider squad, and he was certainly up for selection for that.  

“Our reasoning behind [not selecting him] was that he was going to get a string of ‘A’ team games, and we felt that that would be good for him to get experience in senior rugby. 

“Those ‘A’ team games were good competitive games, so we felt that that was more of a development opportunity than maybe holding bags or sitting on the bench in the URC against the Lions and the Bulls.  

“We've seen tremendous growth in this young man since I've been here, and his performances have warranted his selection.” 

Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt (Image: SNS)

Everitt also explained the development he’s seen in Douglas during his tenure.  

“He's grown from a physical point of view. He's a mature lad now, and he's put in some great performances.   

“It's an opportunity for us to see if he can deliver the same performance that he did against Chile in the URC games. 

“Part of our job is to bring players through, and I think it's an exciting prospect for Edinburgh Rugby as well as Scotland.” 

It has been a whirlwind month for Douglas, who was described as “world class” by Scotland forwards coach John Dalziel even before his debut.  

Everitt said he’s spoken to the teenager about dealing with the pressure, but believes he can take it in his stride.  

“Freddy is a humble chap,” said the Edinburgh boss.  

Freddy Douglas was Player of the Match for Scotland 'A' against Chile (Image: Craig Watson) “We've had conversations on how to deal with the pressures of senior rugby and obviously being in the limelight for the first time.  

“He's a really grounded young individual. He has a tremendous amount of emotional maturity for a youngster of his age and I think that is shown on the rugby field as well in his performances. 

“He's not in awe of the prospect of playing for Scotland or playing for Edinburgh, so that's great for us because that's important in a player's development that he gets opportunity at the right time and we feel that he is ready to put in good performances for us.” 

Douglas gets his opportunity with Luke Crosbie ruled out with a calf injury, though Everitt said it is not a major issue and expects him back in action soon.  

Edinburgh only managed two wins from six games in the first block of the season, but both of those triumphs came in front of their own fans, and Everitt knows another match at Hive Stadium is a good opportunity for his side.  

He added: “The beauty of it is that we're at home against a very good Benetton team, and we've got an opportunity now to put in a really good performance, to build some momentum going into the URC over the next four weeks, which is going to be vital for us with the two Glasgow games coming up.”  

Meanwhile, former Argentina captain Agustin Creevy is in line for his Benetton debut having been named on the bench by head coach Marco Bortolami, who also welcomes back a handful of his international contingent. 

The teams

Edinburgh: Wes Goosen, Darcy Graham, Matt Currie, Mosese Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe, Ross Thompson, Ali Price; Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman, Paul Hill, Marshall Sykes, Grant Gilchrist (captain), Jamie Ritchie, Ben Muncaster, Magnus Bradbury 

Replacements: Patrick Harrison, Boan Venter, D’Arcy Rae, Sam Skinner, Freddy Douglas, Ben Vellacott, Ben Healy, Ross McCann  

Benetton: Rhyno Smith, Ignacio Mendy, Malakai Fekitoa, Marco Zanon, Paolo Odogwu, Jacob Umaga, Andy Uren; Nahuel Tetaz, Marco Manfredi, Enzo Avaca, Scott Scrafton, Eli Snyman (captain), Alessandro Izekor, Toa Halafihi, Riccardo Favretto

Replacements: Agustin Creevy, Destiny Aminu, Tiziano Pasquali, Jadin Kingi, Simon Koroiyadi, Lautaro Bazan Velez, Leonardo Marin, Louis Lynagh