STAN SOUTH will make his debut for Edinburgh Rugby this evening, when they host Connacht in the Pro14.
The recent signing is one of five changes to Edinburgh’s starting line-up with prop Simon Berghan coming in having been released from Scotland’s Six Nations camp for the fixture and Mike Willemse coming in at 2 while Nic Groom and stand-off Simon Hickey come at 9 and 10 respectively.
South is something of an unknown quantity having only joined the capital club earlier this month having previously been at Exeter Chiefs.
But assistant coach Stevie Lawrie is confident the lock will fit into the side seamlessly, and will, in fact, be a major asset to the side while so many of the squad are on international duty.
“He’s a big, robust lock and somebody who we’ll be looking to hit rucks, carry hard and get us over the game line,” he said.
“He’s a good lad, he’s come in and he seems to be knowledgeable and he’s working hard so he gets a shot and complements Lewis Carmichael with that skill set.”
Richard Cockerill’s men are not quite as badly depleted as they may have feared on an international weekend, with Berghan joining fellow internationalists who have been released from Gregor Townsend’s squad, Nick Haining, Luke Crosbie and Matt Scott in the starting fifteen and Lawrie is delighted to see such experience in the line-up.
“It’s good to have Simon back in. He’s put some smiles on faces,” he said.
“Nick Haining dropping down as well, he’s there or there about in terms of discussions with Scotland so to have him back again after last week when he created a try with a nice bit of lateral running, is good.
“And with Crosbie and Scott coming back into the squad as well, they’re experienced and have a good energy.
“Connacht have obviously been in the big comp in Europe and they’ve played some pretty tasty teams. They took a couple of losses into that Cardiff game (last weekend) and were pretty emphatic winning 29-0 so we recognise how well they’re playing and how much of a challenge it’ll be.”
Lawrie is aware of the threat Connacht pose but despite having a number of his side’s best players unavailable for the Six nations, he is confident his men are up for the challenge at Murrayfield this evening.
“When the guys were away at the World Cup, the other players fronted up really well and we believe we’ve got a squad that can do that again this time,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of experience in there and we believe we can get the performance we want.
You look at guys like (Damien) Hoyland and (Mark) Bennett, you’re not talking about second-rate players. We’ve got a lot of quality.
“And Bill Mata is at 8 because Fiji don’t play at this time of year, which is a bonus.
“So there’s plenty of experience and in terms of the integration, traditionally, we flood it and guys maybe don’t get a shot but the way the squad has worked this year, we’ve got a lot of guys who have a lot of minutes under their belt, which is excellent.”
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