IF you think Tommy Seymour is a quick and mazy runner, you should try listening to the fellow speak.
A conversation with the Glasgow Warriors winger is a dizzying experience as he zips this way and that, flat-footing listeners with his sudden changes of direction.
Yet when Seymour described Edinburgh as "hot favourites to cause an upset" in Saturday's inter-city clash at Scotstoun, the first leg of this season's 1872 Cup contest, it wasn't just a case of his tongue running ahead of his brain. His claim required a bit of untangling, but it still made some sort of sense.
For while Edinburgh have had a wretched time of it lately in Scotland's biggest - well, only - professional derby, Glasgow have hardly had it all their own way. While the two sides' fortunes mostly seemed to be heading in opposite directions last season, the capital outfit gave Warriors the fright of their lives when they clashed, going down by just four points in the first game at Murrayfield and by three in the weather-delayed return fixture at Scotstoun a few months later.
On top of which, Edinburgh's current run of good results - they are unbeaten in Europe and their last Guinness PRO12 outing was a 48-0 thrashing of Treviso - suggests that the gap between the two sides has narrowed significantly lately.
"Derby matches have a way of bringing the best out of teams," said Seymour. "They are intense battles and they are kind of separate occasions. You could compare it to an FA Cup type of thing, when two Premiership teams come up against each other. Past fixtures don't really determine how it goes. Edinburgh played a really good game of rugby against us last year, although I felt we played well too.
"It is two teams with a lot of talented individuals who want to go out and play good rugby and there is a lot of expectation on their shoulders because of the occasion. They will go out and try and play well. We have to be very wary of them and forget about bias, expectation and league positions. That doesn't come into the equation. I am not in the Edinburgh camp but I am sure that is the way they will look at it. They will be gunning for us."
For the past few seasons, and especially since the demise of Border Reivers in 2007, these festive matches have been billed as national trials. The tag is perhaps not so appropriate at the moment but, if it must be applied, it is probably fitting that Glasgow wear blue and Edinburgh wear red, respectively the traditional colours of the 'probable' and 'possible' sides.
While the game might not be illuminated by individual contests for Scotland berths, one mano-a-mano worth watching will be Seymour's tussle with Tim Visser, with the national No.11 shirt as the prize.
By their origins, the two players might be improbable candidates - when last was a Scotland place contested between a bloke born in Nashville and a bloke born in Zeewolde, Netherlands? - but both have a lot at stake. Especially Visser, who was virtually a fixture in the side until he suffered a serious leg injury 14 months ago, a misfortune that opened the door for Seymour to establish himself in the team.
Yet Seymour is also well aware of the danger of getting wrapped up in a personal agenda. "Players have match-ups every week, regardless of who they are playing," he replied to a question regarding his competition with the Edinburgh flyer. "They like to look at their opposite number, what they can do against them, how they can show them up and how they can come out the better of the two at the end of the game.
"But players certainly don't go in individually, looking at their own goals. The problem with that is if you go in looking to put down an individual marker or try to put one over it can lead to upsetting the systems or game plans which can cause problems rather than benefits."
Of course, Glasgow start with the benefit of home advantage in Saturday's game. Taking the derby factor out of the equation, you would probably back Gregor Townsend's side to win that match by 20 points and then play a containing game at Murrayfield six days later.
Edinburgh have not won in the west since December 2003, when they beat Glasgow 25-16 at Hughenden. Glasgow have changed on so many fronts since, but establishing their home and identity at Scotstoun was unquestionably a massive boost.
Seymour dismissed a suggestion that Edinburgh should be pitied for their circumstances as tenants at Murrayfield, though. "I certainly don't feel sorry for them," he said firmly. "I would not imagine that anyone in the Edinburgh camp would want us to feel sorry for them. They play in the national stadium; if anything, that gives them more pride and passion."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article