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Edinburgh welcome back two players from Calcutta Cup win for Ospreys

By PA
Ben Healy - PA

Mark Bennett will make his 100th appearance for Edinburgh against Ospreys in the BKT United Rugby Championship at Hive Stadium on Friday night.

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Head coach Sean Everitt has handed the 31-year-old former Glasgow Warriors centre the start which will make him the club’s 41st player to reach the century landmark, as one of four changes made to the starting XV that claimed a win against Zebre Parma a fortnight ago.

Scrum-half Ben Vellacott – who captains the team – starts in place of Ali Price, with the British and Irish Lion selected among the replacements.

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Scotland lock Sam Skinner gets the nod in the second row ahead of Marshall Sykes – also named on the bench – as Tom Dodd comes into the back row for Jamie Ritchie.

Everitt said: “We’re excited to be back home at Hive Stadium for what is a hugely important fixture for the club.

“With the log so tight and teams around us playing each other this weekend, a win is imperative in maintaining our push for a top-eight finish.

“Ospreys are playing with no fear, and they’ll travel north with plenty of confidence, but we’re at home where we love to play under the lights.

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“It’s Friday night and the Edinburgh supporters will be out in full force – it’s set to be a brilliant occasion.

“We’re delighted to see Mark make his 100th appearance for the club. He’s been a brilliant servant to Edinburgh Rugby and thoroughly deserves a start on a special night for him personally.”

An unchanged back-three sees Argentina star Emiliano Boffelli continue at full-back alongside wingers Chris Dean and Harry Paterson.

Centres Bennett, who joined Edinburgh in 2017, and Matt Currie link up in the midfield with Vellacott and stand-off Ben Healy named at half-back.

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Hooker Dave Cherry once again packs down alongside props Boan Venter and WP Nel, as Scotland locks Glen Young and Skinner complete the tight-five.

Fijian number eight Viliame Mata anchors a back-row featuring Dodd and British and Irish Lion Hamish Watson.

The capital club are further boosted by the return to fitness of back-row Ben Muncaster and wing Wes Goosen, who are both named among the replacements.

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Tom 54 minutes ago
England player ratings vs South Africa | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

That 2019 performance was literally the peak in attacking rugby under Eddie. If you thought that was underwhelming, the rest of it was garbage.


I totally get what you're saying and England don't need or have any God given right to the best coaches in the world... But I actually think the coaches we do have are quite poor and for the richest union in the world, that's not good enough. 


England are competitive for sure but with the talent pool up here and the funds available, we should be in the top 3. At the very least we should be winning six nations titles on a semi-regular basis. If Ireland can, England definitely should.


England's attack coach (Richard Wigglesworth) is Borthwick's mate from his playing days at Saracens, who he brought to Leicester with him when he became coach. Wigglesworth was a 9 who had no running or passing game, but was the best box kicker in the business. He has no credentials to be an attack coach and I've seen nothing to prove otherwise. Aside from Marcus Smith’s individual brilliance, our collective attack has looked very uninspiring.

 

England's defence coach (Joe El-Abd) is Borthwick's housemate from uni, who has never been employed as a defence coach before. He's doing the job part time while he's still the head coach of a team in the second division of French rugby who have an awful defensive record. England's defence has gone from being brutally efficient under Felix Jones to as leaky as a colander almost overnight.


If Borthwick brings in a new attack and defence coach then I'll absolutely get behind him but his current coaches seem to be the product of nepotism. He's brought in people he's comfortable with because he lacks confidence as an international head coach and they aren't good enough for international rugby.


England are competitive because they do some things really well, mostly they front up physically, make a lot of big hits, have a solid kicking game, a good lineout, good maul, Marcus Smith and some solid forwards. A lot of what we do well I would ascribe to Borthwick personally. I don't think he's a bad coach, I think he lacks imagination and is overly risk averse. He needs coaches who will bring a point of difference.


I guess my point is, yes England are competitive, but we’re not aiming for competitive and I honestly don't believe this coaching setup has what it takes to make us any better than competitive.


On the plus side it looks like we have an amazing crop of young players coming through. Some of them who won the u20 world cup played for England A against Australia A on the weekend and looked incredible... Check out the highlights on youtube.

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