Edinburgh vs Montpellier - European Champions Cup - The return of BVC

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Edinburgh vs Montpellier

19:45 (GMT) Fri 18 Jan 2019 European Champions Cup

Venue: Murrayfield Stadium

From the beeb:
Edinburgh coach Richard Cockerill hopes to beat Montpellier to seal a Champions Cup home quarter-final - and also help out "little brother" Glasgow Warriors.

A victory for Cockerill's Pool 2 leaders on Friday would secure Warriors' progress into the last eight as one of the three best runners-up.

It would be the first time both sides have been in the quarter-finals.

"It's about time we started doing them some favours. We will try and get them qualified," Cockerill said.

"We are playing for big stakes here, we are playing for a home quarter-final, we are playing to qualify.

"We are only interested in Edinburgh, but the by-product is getting Glasgow through.

"If we win, we get us through and Glasgow through, so come and support Scottish rugby.

"But come and support Edinburgh. We have got something worth supporting."

Glasgow fans have every reason to back Edinburgh against Montpellier, who are second top in their group, as the capital side aim for a seventh win in succession.

A home win would guarantee Warriors a place in the last eight before they travel to face their own pool leaders, Saracens, on Saturday.

"We are a small nation, we've got a small playing pool, so for us to even be contemplating getting a quarter of the European knockouts to be Scottish is pretty impressive," Cockerill added.

Even Rennie says the Weegies should support us

RDW_Scotland wrote:

Eejit wrote:Nel looks tired, sweaty and uncomfortable. Exactly like I do after finishing eating a steak.

Is that not you in your pillow fort too?

The fire service say its dangerous to have a George Foreman grill in a pillow fort, but what do they know.

Can we.........?

And Glasgow..........?

Surely that’s the game?

French teams away -eh? They never turn up.

A minute and a half of Fowles, what a treat

Anyone know why JP keeps talking in French? There's barely a french player on the pitch...

Soooooo. Edinburgh victorious and top the group and this also puts Glasgow, who are a mere 2nd in their group through.

Maybe now we’ll get some love off the unwashed ones and perhaps some credit? I mean we skleped you over Christmas and now us TOPPING our group let’s you through as RUNNER up in yours. You’ll never say we’re better than you, which we clearly are, but can you at least concede we’re at least equal?

In all seriousness, great result for Scottish rugby.

Congrats - great victory and well deserved.

Yeeeeeeeeees!!!!!

It wasn't pretty but I couldn't care less!

Amazing! Say what you like about the form of the other teams in the group, but to top that group is some achievement.

Weegies you're welcome

Well done luvvies and thanks very much for that. Now off to beat the second best team on planet earth tomorrow and get a home quarter of our own, no problem.

Any other Glasgow fans feel the need to inject a Gregg's steak bake directly into their blood stream?

2 Scottish sides in the QF of the big cup

Isn’t that one of the signs of the apocalypse?

Congrats guys

Great stuff! Nel had a cracker.

Great effort from Edinburgh, beat Montpellier at their own game although i thought leaving Nel and Schoeman on the field for so long could have cost us.

Watson broken hand apparently. Baws.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Watson broken hand apparently. Baws.

Huge blow for Scotland. Depends on whether it's a clean break or a spiral as too how long and hope much manipulation will be required to fix it. Broke mine with a spiral fraction a few years back and having them manipulate the bones back into place before setting them was not a great deal of fun.

Now I may have this wrong, but  I suspect we're most likely to be ranked 4th, meaning we'll play 5th at home in the QF.

5th rank will be the winner of pool 3 so does that mean our most likely opponent will be the winner of Munster v Exeter?

Woo hoo

Thank you Luvvies.

https://twitter.com/maura_mcmahon98/status/1086385634518941697?s=19



I bet this person is on the infamous Glasgow warriors forum!

RDW_Scotland wrote:https://twitter.com/maura_mcmahon98/status/1086385634518941697?s=19



I bet this person is on the infamous Glasgow warriors forum!

That place is full of rockets of the highest order.

Just landed, Well done Edinburgh

Going to have a stress free match tomorrow now!

Eejit wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:https://twitter.com/maura_mcmahon98/status/1086385634518941697?s=19



I bet this person is on the infamous Glasgow warriors forum!

That place is full of rockets of the highest order.

Twitter has exploded with weegies with massive (salt and vinegar covered) chips on their shoulders!

RDW_Scotland wrote:Watson broken hand apparently. Baws.

Horrible news. Big chance for Hardie to redeem himself.

Doesn’t surprise me really as Twitter is full of pond life, but at least it isn’t salt and sauce.

Still no annual visit from Schitz

That was f*cking epic.

Another great team performance, incredibly impressed with how they took control back after Racing's 2nd try.

McInally, Nel and Gilchrist were superb up front.  Thought Kinghorn had a big game and VDM was an absolute terror.

Credit to young Luke Crosbie too - can't be easy coming on for Hamish Watson knowing 12000 people are gutted you're on, but he got stuck in. His big carry on the 2nd half really gave us a front foot platform and got the crowd going.

Also, Edinburgh only gave away 4 penalties - incredible discipline

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/46931395

Good article

Might be getting ahead of myself here, but watching Munster v Exeter neither particularly frighten me - if you can match their intensity they don't have a plan B. Keep Exeter out your 22 and they don't have a big attack. Munster aren't massively skillful so if you force them into playing the ball by high pressure defence they'll struggle. 

Easier said than done granted!

Who do I want to win this game?

I'd probably rather face Exeter - they don't have any European pedigree, and if we play Munster there will be 20,000 Munster fans at Murrayfield making it feel like a home game!

Munster it is!

Munster at home is a very different proposition to Munster away.

This should draw in a very big crowd with the Irish travelling support, could be looking at 20,000 plus

BigGee wrote:Munster at home is a very different proposition to Munster away.

This should draw in a very big crowd with the Irish travelling support, could be looking at 20,000 plus

They had 37000 vs Toulouse in 2012 with virtually no traveling fans. With good marketing and hopefully not so expensive tickets, should be looking at a 40000+ figure.

Was about to say - I can see there being 20,000 Munster fans never mind total attendance! The European beast is very much awake with Munster and with Edinburgh an easy / attractive city to get to I think they'll travel in huge numbers.

That, combined with Edinburgh popularity being at an all time high, means we should be targeting to beat the 2012 record. I'd be disappointed if we didn't!

Munster are actually a bad team for us. Pragmatic with no real X factor, just a good comprehensive Rigby team that does the basics well.

Our game is focused on strangling the life out of a team with a big defensive effort. We did Glasgow by letting them run at a brick wall at 110% and they ran out of puff. Munster are far wiser and will just plug away at 98% and will turn it up to 100% when they see a crack.

We’re at home though which should help.

tigertattie wrote:Munster are actually a bad team for us. Pragmatic with no real X factor, just a good comprehensive Rigby team that does the basics well.

Our game is focused on strangling the life out of a team with a big defensive effort though. We did Glasgow by letting them run at a brick wall at 110% and they ran out of puff. Munster are far wiser and will just plug away at 98% and will turn it up to 100% when they see a crack.

We’re at home though which should help.

It works both ways I suppose - it's going to be a hell of a challenge to dominante, but if we can match their intensity we're a long way towards getting the win. Munster aren't the most skilful team and we definitely have more X-factor in the back 3. 

Matching their intensity will be a huge challenge! As good as Dean and JJ have been we could really do with Matt Scott back - they have a hugely physical midfield and he'd go a long way to combat that.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Was about to say - I can see there being 20,000 Munster fans never mind total attendance! The European beast is very much awake with Munster and with Edinburgh an easy / attractive city to get to I think they'll travel in huge numbers.

That, combined with Edinburgh popularity being at an all time high, means we should be targeting to beat the 2012 record. I'd be disappointed if we didn't!

The only drawback is that when Edinburgh last qualified the whole Scottish rugby public rallied behind them, that won't be the case this time. Even though Glasgow are away from home there may not be the same desire to support a potential competitor on this occasion. It's also worth noting that Edinburgh's run then was an oasis of success in a desert of mediocrity at best.
Since then Scotland have improved beyond recognition, and Glasgow and Edinburgh have their own identities. Glasgow have won the Pro12, Edinburgh are a team with a set identity and a popular coach. I'm not sure that the Scottish rugby public will mobilise as entirely behind Edinburgh this time.