Scottish Rugby

Image source, SNS

Darcy Graham will make a surprise early return to action for Edinburgh in Friday night's European Challenge Cup home match against Toulon at Hive Stadium.

The British and Irish Lions winger has made a quicker-than-expected recovery after tearing a bicep in September, and having been initially ruled out until Christmas.

It is a timely return for the 29-year-old, who will be hoping to force his way into Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend's plans for next month's Nations Championship fixtures against New Zealand, Australia and Japan.

Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt has made one other change to the starting XV following last week's 29-12 United Rugby Championship win against Zebre, with flanker Tom Currie set to make his first start of the season.

Additionally, Scotland second-row Grant Gilchrist has recovered from injury and hopes to make his first appearance of the season off the bench.

Edinburgh: Piers O'Conor, Malelili Satala, Matt Currie, Mosese Tuipulotu, Darcy Graham, James Grayson, Hector Patterson; Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman, Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, Callum Hunter-Hill, Glen Young, Tom Currie, Freddy Douglas, Magnus Bradbury.

Replacements: Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, Jamie Stewart, Paul Hill, Grant Gilchrist, Euan McVie, Conor McAlpine, Geordie Gwynn, Rory McHaffie.

BBC Sport Scotland's Andy Burke has been answering some of your Scottish rugby questions.

Matt asked: I would love to hear your opinion on wee Dalziel.

Should he be brought into the Scotland environment and given exposure to the international game despite being so young? He looked incredible when he came on at the weekend, and maybe as much exposure to the international environment will be good.

Not necessarily saying he should get a cap but just being around senior players will help his development.

Andy answered: First things first, he might be Dalziel Jnr (son of Scotland forwards coach, John) but he certainly cannot be classed as wee!

Unusually for a stand-off, he is six-foot-four, and we saw the benefit of his long levers with that brilliant offload that led to Christian Wade's try on Dalziel's Newcastle debut.

He has long been identified as a huge talent, standing out in U20 internationals at just 17, and now becoming Newcastle's youngest Premiership player at 18 will only heighten expectations.

It's important to be careful with Dalziel, though. He still has a lot of developing to do, both physically and in terms of game understanding. He looks to have all the tools to be a very special player, but it's important not to demand too much of him too soon.

Dalziel will have had experiences in and around the senior Scotland set-up from his time with the U20s - the two sides regularly have training runs against each other - and I'm sure Gregor Townsend will be keen to keep him close and broaden his experiences to prepare him for what, we hope, is his inevitable Scotland debut in the not too distant future.

Graeme asked: Two players, two different directions - will Duhan van der Merwe get back into the Edinburgh side and is he still good enough to get back into the national team? And is Bradbury now favourite to start at number eight for Scotland?

Andy answered: I have no doubt when Duhan van der Merwe gets himself fit and up to full speed, Edinburgh will look to try and get the best out of him.

For too long Van der Merwe has seemed content to save his best stuff for Scotland while delivering underwhelming performances for his club. The reality now is the ground has shifted beneath him in terms of the Scotland pecking order, and he is pretty far back in the queue for wing spots.

Kyle Steyn, Jamie Dobie, Kyle Rowe and Darcy Graham would all seem to be ahead of Van der Merwe right now, and the only way he can force himself towards the front is to catch fire in an Edinburgh jersey. If he can do that, he still has a role to play as he offers something none of the other wingers can. If not, he might be in trouble when it comes to World Cup selection.

He could take a cue from Magnus Bradbury, who has been tearing it up for Edinburgh at the start of the season.

I think Jack Dempsey will still be in that role for the Nations Championship fixtures in November, but we know he will not be available for the Six Nations owing to his club commitments in Japan.

That opens the door for Bradbury, while Matt Fagerson, Josh Bayliss, Gregor Brown and others are all capable of playing at eight, but if Bradbury can continue his early-season form and show up well in whatever opportunities he gets in a Scotland jersey in November, he could be in pole position come the Six Nations.

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Image source, SNS

Glasgow Warriors let themselves down ultimately in last season's European Champions Cup, according to utility back Ollie Smith, who says they can make up for it this time round.

Franco Smith's side tore through the pool stage, winning every match to top their section and earn home ties in the last 16 and then the quarter-finals.

They took care of the South African side Bulls but were beaten at home 22-19 by Toulon in the last eight.

This season's campaign begins, like last term, away to English Premiership side Sale Sharks, where Warriors won 26-21 despite trailing 14-0 in a thrilling match in Manchester.

Smith says getting off to a flier this season could do wonders for their European aspirations.

"I think you saw what happened last year," he said. "It just gave us that real confidence to back ourselves against European competition.

"It's a really tough place to go down there and it's quite hostile. If we can come away with a win like we did last year, it really catapulted us on to bigger and better things in the competition.

"We did so well getting to that top spot. Home play-offs and stuff like that and then maybe let ourselves down in the quarter-finals. I think we missed an opportunity last season. We'll be looking to flip that this time."

Although Warriors are unbeaten so far this season, with two wins and a draw in the United Rugby Championship, Smith feels they'll have to improve to get their European adventure off to a winning start.

"It'll be massive to get us going because we've been a bit rocky these first three games," he said.

"It's not been pretty the whole time. We're looking for an 80-minute performance and this is a pretty good platform to do it."

Smith thinks that Warriors will have to tighten up defensively to profit from the new differential bonus-point system, with teams having to score three more tries than their opponent to benefit instead of just four or more tries.

"We're a team that, on average, I think scores more than four tries a game," he added.

"So it's definitely a focus for us to just keep scoring. But it's maybe more a case of not letting other teams score."

Image source, SNS

Winger Katie Buchanan makes her first Scotland start against Australia in Sydney on Saturday as the WXV Global Series continues.

Scrum-half Leia Brebner-Holden also comes into the starting XV following last month's defeat to the same opponents in Edinburgh.

Canada and New Zealand were also victorious against the Scots in September.

Captain Rachel Malcolm once again leads the team against the Wallaroos for the first time on Australian soil.

Shona Campbell and Ceitidh Ainsworth are the players dropping to the bench for the match at the Accor Stadium.

Scotland will play a second Test in Canberra on the following Friday.

Scotland: Hannah Ramsay, Rhona Lloyd, Evie Wills, Meryl Smith, Katie Buchanan, Helen Nelson, Leia Brebner-Holden; Anne Young, Lana Skeldon, Elliann Clarke, Holland Bogan, Sarah Bonar, Rachel Malcolm (capt), Rachel McLachlan, Evie Gallagher.

Replacements: Aicha Sutcliffe, Leah Bartlett, Molly Poolman, Hollie Cunningham, Eva Donaldson, Ceitidh Ainsworth, Shona Campbell, Chloe Rollie.

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Image source, SNS

Club captain Kyle Steyn and Zander Fagerson are "in the mix" to feature for Glasgow Warriors for the first time this season in their opening Champions Cup match against Sale Sharks on Saturday.

Assistant coach Scott Forrest confirmed the Scotland internationals are back in full training and are in contention for places.

Forrest described their potential return as a massive boost for Warriors.

Steyn, the club captain, hasn't played since Scotland's summer tour, during which he picked up a foot injury that required surgery.

Tighthead prop Fagerson injured a knee on international duty but has fully recovered.

Zander's younger brother Matt should be fit too, according to Forrest, despite the back-row forward leaving the field in the URC win over Connacht last weekend with a groin issue.

Forrest said: "It's probably not as bad as first thought. He has had something similar in the past, so again it was precautionary. He's not trained much at the start of the week, but he's moving about absolutely fine.

"Whether he plays this week or not, we'll wait and see. As important as this game is, there are other important games coming up for us and for Scotland, so we'll wait and see."

Kyle Rowe, who missed out on the match against Connacht through illness, also returns, with Forrest saying: "We are in a good place going into the weekend."

Warriors won all of their Champions Cup pool matches last season, including their opener away to Sale, a memorable 26-21 win.

They beat the Bulls in the last 16 but were knocked out of the competition at the quarter-final stage by French side Toulon, who beat Franco Smith's side 22-19 on their home patch.

No Scottish club has ever reached the last four of the competition, let alone won it, and Forrest isn't ready to list Warriors among the contenders to be named European champions.

He said: "We feel like every game we go into, if we get our stuff right, then we can go and beat anyone, as we've shown in the past. So that's not changed.

"Do we view ourselves as contenders? Like I said there, I think we have a belief that, on our day, we can beat anyone because I think you saw that last year.

"So we'll keep believing we can go and beat anyone on our day, but in terms of talking about winning competitions, we're not there yet."

Andy Burke is joined by Scotland's record points scorer, Chris Paterson, and former Scotland Sevens captain Colin Gregor to discuss Edinburgh's sensational start to the season and how far they and unbeaten Glasgow can go in Europe.

Plus, Scotland's women return to WXV action next weekend with an away fixture against Australia.

Listen and subscribe to the BBC's Scotland Rugby Podcast

Sandy Smith
Fan writer

Gritty, dogged and gutsy.

All good words to describe Edinburgh's performance against Zebre. Win is another.

A third victory in a row and top of the URC table going into a break from league action while we take on Toulon in the Challenge Cup.

It wasn't pretty but it was five points away from home at a place where we have struggled in the past, and despite being reduced to 14 players for a quarter of the match we were only behind on the scoresheet for 14 minutes.

There's a well-known phrase, it's not the size of the Bradbury in the fight but the size of the fight in the Bradbury, and our co-captain is certainly living up to that.

He was a hugely deserved winner of the player of the match and it was no surprise to learn he carried more and further than anyone else in this game. Only three players in the entire league carried for more metres than him in this round of games.

How do you know when your team is doing well? Well the table is a given, then the rumour mill starting to suggest teams are interested in our players is another way. A third yardstick is pundits saying how lucky we are with the order of the fixtures.

Sorry folks, there's no perfect schedule that Edinburgh could be given. We've lost to them all in the past and in any order you can think of.

What is new and hopefully glued in place is this combative attitude that is getting us over the line, even in games like this one.

There were mistakes. Poor passes, knock-ons, getting held up in possession, the yellow cards. We also lacked a little variety in our attack.

I could go on but the story so far is that the team fought through those issues, which hasn't always been the case in seasons past.

We are all aware of how many stats we are re-writing but here's another: we have never had 14 points after three opening league fixtures in our history.

Need something bigger to brag about? There are now only two unbeaten teams across the three main competitions in Europe.

Edinburgh are one of them. The other team? Some random outfit.

Enjoy it while it lasts and hope it's less like a commute and more like a road trip.

Sandy Smith can be found at the Burgh Watch, external

We want your questions for our rugby expert Andy Burke after a positive weekend for both Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh in the URC.

Edinburgh moved top of the URC after their bonus-point win against Zebre while Glasgow stay close behind in second following their home victory over Connacht.

Send in your questions via this link and a selection will be answered and published on this page later in the week.

Andy Burke
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Image source, SNS

Glasgow roll over Connacht

Glasgow identified Connacht's Achilles heel – defending the rolling maul – and promptly beat them into submission with it.

Four of Warriors' five tries came from lineout mauls and the Irish side could just not live with it.

It was not an evening for flash rugby (with one notable exception, which we'll get to in a moment) and Glasgow reverted to the maul that has been such a potent weapon for them under Franco Smith.

Johnny Matthews used to have a rare old time touching down for bags of tries as the beneficiary of those unstoppable rumbles for the line, and now Gregor Hiddleston and Seb Stephen are making hay in similar fashion.

Wonder-try earns Franco's approval

It takes something special to provoke any sort of facial expression from the stoic Smith, but Josh McKay's try prompted a rare nod of approval from the head coach.

It really was a beautifully crafted score. The pinpoint accuracy of Dan Lancaster's cross-field kick was outstanding, but it was the incredible skill of Jamie Dobie that really got the Scotstoun crowd off their seats.

To pluck the kick-pass out the air, have the instinct to know where McKay was arriving from deep, and to cushion a delicate little grubber into his path, all in a split-second, was truly extraordinary.

On a night that Glasgow ground Connacht down, that was a moment of pure class.

Rory Darge – Glasgow's Mr Consistent

You would be hard pushed to find a bad game Rory Darge has played for club or country.

He is remarkably consistent, and while much of his good work goes unseen, he is the type of player you can bet opposition sides just hate the sight of.

Against Connacht he was his usual menace at the breakdown and topped the tackle charts with 29.

With Jack Dempsey's summer departure, the ball-carrying load is having to be shared more among the back-rowers, but with his power and clever footwork, Darge is more than happy to play his part.

He will be instrumental to Scotland's hopes of a successful November in the Nations Championship.

We asked for your thoughts on wins for Edinburgh - who moved top of the URC - and Glasgow, who sit second after maintaining their unbeaten start.

Here's a selection of your replies:

Edinburgh

Dave: Great professional performance and result from Edinburgh. Want to call out Piers O'Connor who is playing so well. He is one that is really benefitting from the change in attacking approach. There are a number of players really driving the early-season form, a number of them benefitting from game-time they may not have had due to the injury list. Harri Morris very lucky not to have seen red.

Trevor: Great start for Edinburgh. So happy they stuck with Sean Everitt now things have started to turn round. Playing with efficiency and style, we will surely have a play-off spot this season. With no Champions Cup to worry about we can concentrate on the URC. In James Grayson we have a genuine international class 10, which is already making a massive difference.

David: Great to see the two Scottish teams topping the URC table, with Edinburgh just above Glasgow. Wouldn't it be great if that was the situation at the end of the regular season?

Jim: Great result for Edinburgh. Magnus Bradbury, Liam McConnell, Ewan Ashman and Grayson all class acts.

GLASGOW

Jim: Gritty defence early on but two Connacht tries came from errors on kick-offs. We need to clear our lines better.

Jack: Glasgow will get found out by the big teams when they rely on the maul so much. Time to start Seb Stephen, even though he missed quite a few throws he is better than Gregor Hiddleston who has dropped right off. Lineouts were shocking and have been since start of season.

Dave: Great result from Glasgow against a really good and very well coached Connacht side. I think Glasgow have to be patient with Dan Lancaster, there is a lot of good in what he does, but also some poor decision-making, very similar to last year. This may be a critical year for him.

Jimmy: George Horne is very overrated. Among a number of deficiencies are his one-step, slow, loopy pass which critically is never in front of the receiver. The 10 has to take the ball standing still. All momentum lost. His defence is paperweight and he rarely plays square and challenges the line, which puts all the attacking emphasis on the outside backs. Glasgow need the bristling Jamie Dobie at nine.

Edinburgh went top of the nascent United Rugby Championship table as a bonus-point victory at Zebre made it three wins from three for Sean Everitt's injury-hit side.

Read the match report

Have your say

Andy Burke
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter at Scotstoun Stadium

Image source, SNS

Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith told BBC Scotland: "Regardless of who we played tonight, we wanted to play better [than last week's draw with Ulster] and show a little bit more intent.

"I thought we showed that without the ball specifically and that made me very happy.

"Connacht defended unbelievably well, they didn't allow us any space and we had to find a different way to win.

"We've made a step going forward, next week is Europe [away to Sale Sharks] so we need to fire on all cylinders. I think we progressed today but we're not quite where we want to be yet."

On Josh McKay's try: "Fantastic players, good, talented players, great vision from Jamie Dobie to kick that straight away without catching it. Just played to win and I appreciate that, it's one of the best tries that we've scored."

Glasgow Warriors maintain early-season momentum with a bonus-point win at Scotstoun.

Read the report from Andy Burke.

Have your say on the action here.

BBC Sport Scotland's Andy Burke has been answering some of your Scottish rugby questions.

Graeme asked: Only two games in, I know, but could this be the season Edinburgh come of age?

Andy answered: We certainly shouldn't be getting carried away with Edinburgh just two games into the season, but at the same time, we should enjoy what we're seeing from them right now.

The Edinburgh fans have waited long enough for a little light at the end of the tunnel.

The victories over Ulster and Stormers have shown different sides to this Edinburgh team. Flair and attacking ambition to come through in Belfast, doggedness and clutch moments to get the job done against the South Africans.

New attack coach Tim Sampson has certainly got a tune out of what was a pretty moribund backline, and the addition of James Grayson at fly-half has been instrumental in that.

Have Edinburgh truly turned a corner? Zebre away - a fixture that has haunted them in recent times - will tell us a lot.

If they can come away from Italy on Saturday with maximum points then it will certainly feel like Edinburgh are finally on the right track.

Keith asked: Was Glasgow's inability to beat Ulster simply down to early-season errors or evidence we are going to miss the ball-carrying prowess of Jack Dempsey this season more than we care to admit?

Andy answered: I wouldn't be too concerned about Glasgow.

We saw some vintage Warriors with their five tries, and some uncharacteristic stuff in their concession of five tries, but I'd be minded to chalk it up to early-season rust.

Dempsey will be a big miss this season, no question, but he has had his injury problems in recent times and Glasgow have had to cope without him for long stretches.

Jamie Ritchie will bring nous and class to the back-row when he finally returns to fitness in the next month or so, and Matt Fagerson is more than capable of slotting in at number eight. It will be good to see Macenzzie Duncan getting some more game-time this season too.

Connacht will be a good test for Warriors on Friday night and I suspect we might see them back to something closer to their best at Scotstoun.

Andy Burke
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Image source, SNS

Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith says George Horne's error against Ulster played no part in his decision to bench the scrum-half for Friday's URC match against Connacht.

In a lapse of judgement Horne bounced the ball off an opponent's head after Glasgow had been awarded a penalty late in the first half.

The decision was reversed and Ulster took advantage by scoring a try as the sides played out a 33-33 draw at Scotstoun.

Horne also struck the post with a late penalty in the dying minutes, but Smith leapt to the defence of a player that has been instrumental in Warriors' success in the past few years.

"The last tackle last week against Ulster was made by George in the 80th minute on the cross cover in the backfield," said Smith.

"He cares so much. Everybody feels like he feels sometimes during the season with the frustration boiling over. So he's human after all.

"He's played so many games for us, and he plays so well. It's [the selection] absolutely nothing to do with that [Ulster incident]. I didn't even have to tell George that action before half-time was not good enough. He knew straight away, and he was apologetic for it, and I understand that.

"I've seen Scottie Scheffler, who's a great golfer and a Christian in so many ways, sometimes get upset with his caddie. So it does happen.

"I know that frustration boiled over, unfortunately, but it's got nothing to do with what's happened, what we see in our future developing."

Image source, SNS

Ewan Ashman and Moses Tuipulotu come into the Edinburgh line-up for Saturday's United Rugby Championship match away to Zebre.

Scotland hooker Ashman is the only change in the pack, replacing Kienan Higgins, with Tuipulotu taking over from Harri Morris at inside centre. Morris makes the bench.

It is the last match for both sides before they begin their European Rugby Challenge Cup campaigns, with the Scottish capital side hosting Toulon next Friday and Zebre at home to Ulster the following day.

Edinburgh are bidding for a third URC win out of three after victories over Ulster (away) and Stormers (home).

Edinburgh: Piers O'Conor, Malelili Satala, Matt Currie, Moses Tuipulotu, Geordie Gwynn, James Grayson, Hector Patterson; Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman, Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, Callum Hunder-Hill, Glen Young, Liam McConnell, Freddy Douglas, Magnus Bradbury.

Replacements: Harri Morris, Jamie Stewart, Paul Hill, Marshall Sykes, Tom Currie, Conor McAlpine, Cammy Scott, Rory McHaffie.

Image source, SNS

Scotland internationals Scott Cummings, Rory Darge, Nathan McBeth and Ollie Smith return to the Glasgow Warriors line-up for Saturday's URC match at home to Connacht.

Warriors captain Stafford McDowall misses out after suffering a concussion in last weekend's 33-33 draw with Ulster, with Sione Tuipulotu leading the side in his absence and Smith taking the 13 jersey.

George Horne drops to the bench with Jamie Dobie moving in from the wing to scrum-half.

Macennzie Duncan comes into the back row at number eight, with Matt Fagerson shifting to the blindside flank.

Glasgow team to face Connacht:Josh McKay, Kyle Rowe, Ollie Smith, Sione Tuipulotu (c), Fergus Watson, Dan Lancaster, Jamie Dobie; Nathan McBeth, Gregor Hiddleston, Fin Richardson, Max Williamson, Scott Cummings, Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge, Macenzzie Duncan.

Replacements: Seb Stephen, Patrick Schickerling, Sam Talakai, Gregor Brown, Jare Oguntibeju, Ally Miller, George Horne, Bayley Kuenzle.

Image source, SNS

Glasgow Warriors hooker Gregor Hiddleston is "optimistic" he can establish himself in the Scotland front row as he has at club level.

Hiddleston, 24, made his Scotland debut earlier this year against Argentina and has three caps.

His international breakthrough came off the back of a stellar season with the Warriors as he helped Franco Smith's side reach the semi-finals of the URC and the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup.

"You've got to be optimistic," Hiddleston said, when asked whether he can nail down the number two jersey for Scotland.

"If I didn't think I could do it, I'd be better going back than playing for Dumfries.

"So, I think it's important that I just keep going on the trajectory and try to put my best foot forward every time I'm on the training pitch and in games.

"It's obviously a tough one to answer, but I think you've got to be optimistic in the sense that you want to keep pushing further."

Despite his relatively young age Hiddleston is the senior hooker at Glasgow, with 21-year-old Seb Stephen providing competition.

"It's strange, because when you first come to the club, there's Fraser Brown, George Turner, Johnny [Matthews], Grant Stewart, a lot of older boys with a lot of experience, and then they parted ways over the last couple of seasons," Hiddleston said.

"It's different, but the group of hookers we've got now are all a bit younger, but it's a really good group.

"We all work really well together, and we can still call on experience from other members in the squad, like Zander [Fagerson] and Scotty Cummins."

Will Edinburgh continue their current form and make it three from three when they come up against Zebre in the URC? Is there anything to be worried about at Glasgow? Tom and Andy have you covered.