Edinburgh Rugby Out To Give Cardiff The Blues In Season Opener

Edinburgh Rugby Out To Give Cardiff The Blues In Season Opener

Edinburgh Rugby head coach Michael Bradley has made three personnel changes to the side that defeated Newcastle Falcons (20-17) for tomorrow night’s curtain-raising visit of Cardiff Blues in the opening match of the RaboDirect PRO12 at Murrayfield.The match is Bradley’s first competitive encounter at the capital club since he took the helm at the beginning of the summer and, having come through back-to-back pre-season victories, excitement is building towards the first home game.He said: Home advantage is massive in all sports and rugby is no different. The concept of the stadium within the stadium was excellent last Friday night. It looked great and the crowd reacted really positively to the players and the action. It’s a completely different feel.Now we need to get more people to come in and experience it, bring their kids and their friends and get a real buzz about Edinburgh Rugby and build on that excitement and enthusiasm for the match-day experience.Weve had a good week preparation-wise. The pre-season results went well for us in terms of competitive games, tough rugby matches and testing our systems. The results have given us confidence that if we play well we should get a positive result but make no mistake, tomorrow night will be a different ask.Edinburgh Rugby head coach Michael BradleyCardiff will be an extremely competitive side in the RaboDirect PRO12 and would expect to be one of the top four playoff teams. That’s what were striving for so already we have an important match on our hands tomorrow night.Tim Visser (wing) and Matt Scott (centre) return in place of the injured Tom Brown (dead leg) and John Houston who drops to the bench.Their reintroduction means that Lee Jones switches wings to accommodate the Dutchman, Jim Thompson moves to full-back and Simon Webster comes in-field one place to take Thompson’s vacated outside-centre position.Up front the only change sees promising prop Lewis Niven earn the starting berth at tight-head with try-scorer Steven Lawrie winning the first battle with Andrew Kelly to start at hooker.Young Grant Gilchrist will once again partner Steven Turnbull in the second-row, with the trusted back-row trio of Sean Cox, Roddy Grant and David Denton also retaining the right to start the match.Edinburgh Rugby team to play Cardiff Blues on Friday 2 September (kick-off 7.30pm) – RaboDirect PRO1215 Jim Thompson14 Lee Jones13 Simon Webster12 Matt Scott11 Tim Visser10 Phil Godman9 Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN1 Kyle Traynor2 Steven Lawrie3 Lewis Niven4 Grant Gilchrist5 Steven Turnbull6 Sean Cox7 Roddy Grant8 David DentonSubstitutes16 Andrew Kelly17 Robin Hislop18 Jack Gilding19 Esteban Lozada20 Hamish Watson21 Chris Leck22 Gregor Hunter23 John HoustonNot available through injury: Tom Brown (dead leg), Ben Cairns (knee)SIGN UP FOR NEW PERSPECTIVES IN SEASON 2011/12!All of Edinburgh Rugby’s regular RaboDirect PRO12 matches and Heineken Cup home games are included in our 2011/12 season ticket package. Other benefits include access to the reserved seating sections to guarantee you a premium view of the match while youll also be able to sign two friends into the pre and post-match supporters lounge at Murrayfield Wanderers.Season tickets are priced at _35 for under-18s, _90 for students/senior citizens and _180 for adults. For more information visit www.edinburghrugby.org, call 0131 346 5180 or visit the Murrayfield Ticket Centre (just off Roseburn Street) in person.No fuss, no queues, no worries it’s AnyGame!Offering total flexibility and a _5 saving on the adult match-day price, AnyGame vouchers can be used at (you guessed it!) any Edinburgh Rugby match at Murrayfield in the RaboDirect PRO12 and Heineken Cup.Purchasers of Edinburgh Rugby AnyGame tickets get access to the unreserved sections of Murrayfield’s east stand and east stand concourse bar, as well as the all-new perimeter standing area which get you right on top of the action!

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