Wingers Tim Visser and Nikki Walker will bookend the back division when Edinburgh Rugby face Dragons at Murrayfield Stadium tonight, Friday 13 September, kick-off 8.45pm South African Time.
The outing will double as Walker’s debut for the club since signing in the summer; with the club hoping the pair, currently second and fourth in the league’s all-time top try-scoring chart, will add firepower to the side.
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Edinburgh Rugby head coach, Alan Solomon, said: “I think this is a really good opportunity for Tim [Visser] and Nikki [Walker] to get involved. They’re back to fitness, which is a big positive for us, and it’s great to have them in the team. That said, I think that the lads have been playing well on the wings.”
Their selection makes up two of the four personnel changes to the club’s backline.
Stand-off Harry Leonard is handed his first start at pivot in place of the injured Piers Francis (ankle) while an injury to Ben Atiga (knee) means Nick De Luca and Dougie Fife moved to the inside and outside centre positions.
In the pack, the only change sees Georgian internationalist Dimitri Basilaia selected to start his first match of the season in place of Sean Cox, with Ross Ford [pictured] handed the captaincy.
On the bench, new signing Wicus Blaauw gears up to make his debut as does Newcastle Falcons and former Scotland under-20 centre Michael Tait, who is on trial with the capital club.
Solomons added: “It would be fantastic to get the home section of our campaign underway with a win but in order to achieve that we need a good performance. If we get a good performance then everything will flow from it. It’s all about the way we play. We know what we want to do, we need to execute our strategy well and we need to play well, if we do that we’ll get the result we deserve.”
Edinburgh Rugby team to play Dragons at Murrayfield Stadium in RaboDirect Pro12 round two on Friday 13 September
15 Greig Tonks
14 Nikki Walker
13 Dougie Fife
12 Nick De Luca
11 Tim Visser
10 Harry Leonard
9 Sean Kennedy
1 Alasdair Dickinson
2 Ross Ford CAPTAIN
3 Willem Nel
4 Grant Gilchrist
5 Izak van der Westhuizen
6 Dimitri Basilaia
7 Roddy Grant
8 David Denton
Substitutes
16 Aleki Luitui
17 Wicus Blaauw
18 Geoff Cross
19 Sean Cox
20 Hamish Watson
21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne
22 Michael Tait
23 Jack Cuthbert
Michael Tait (23) centre
Born: 07/05/1990 in Melrose
Height: 6’1 (185cm), weight 14st 2lb (90kg)
Previous clubs: Kelso, Newcastle Falcons
Honours: Scotland U17, U18, U19 and U20