FORGET all the complicated calculations as Edinburgh prepare to wrap up the pool stage of this season's European Champions Cup. The equation is simple: win the game and they not only go through to the quarter finals but will get a home tie as well.
As with all seemingly simple jobs, the reality is that the task in front of them is anything but straightforward. Grenoble are a French club building steadily and though they have had a few setbacks in the Top14 recently they did manage to win at London Irish last week – the ground where Edinburgh got hammered – and like any French club they have a proud home record.
As has been obvious all week, Edinburgh have pulled out all the stops to try to claim the vital win. With their injury list at last starting to come down to manageable proportions and with most of the big-name players having been rested last week, all their internationalists are recalled to the starting line up, including recent injury victims Ross Ford and Alasdair Dickinson as the all-Scotland front row returns to action.
They know the earlier clash between the two clubs is irrelevant. When the teams met in November, the French sent over a weakened side and were reasonably satisfied to have come away without conceding a try bonus point in a game where they had a player send off to add to a sin bin. Only five of that side survive for the return match, as they turn to the big guns rested for the trip to BT Murrayfield.
They are also boosted by the return of captain Fabien Gengenbacher after three months out with a torn muscle, though is not being risked in the starting XV and will take his place off the bench: "This is a chance for us to make history," he said. "Edinburgh have played in a final and I think they will have prepared as though this is the same. It is a big test for us because they are virtually the Scotland team, it is a big challenge."
In practice, that is a bit of an exaggeration. Only seven of the side are in the national squad named earlier this week, with but all the same, he is right – it is a powerful side, arguably the strongest that Alan Solomons, the head coach, has been able to field all season.
He has never made any secret that a goal for the season was to reach the knockout stage of the European Champions Cup. Depending on other results – and they do have the advantage of playing last – it is technically possible that a losing bonus point might be enough to see them through, but Solomons is quick to brush that aside.
"The approach we've taken is we've got to win this game," he said. "They are sitting on 18 points, we're on 17 so it's a game we need to win. We know it's going to be tough. We've got a lengthy journey out there and they are a good side and are at home. But I believe we have got a good side as well. We just need to perform well on the day."
“There are some real threats in their squad, they have a lot of experience and we’re expecting a side that will really bring it to us in attack. Clearly we need to perform well on the day to get a result.”
"For us top six in the Guinness PRO12 is absolutely critical, but one of our aims is to make the quarter-final in the Challenge Cup. Once can then re-assess. There are two parts to this competition - the round robin then the play-offs. We've got to fight like anything to make the play-offs which is what we're trying to do."
"We want as many players in that national team as possible. One of the strengths Glasgow have had is that they have had this powerful representation. When you bring that experience back to the PRO12 and European level it makes a massive difference. It's great to see our guys involved, even the likes of Gilco [Grant Gilchrist] and Stu [McInally] who are just coming back from injury have been asked to go along.
Grenoble: G Aplon; X Mignot, C Farrell, N Hunt, D Kilioni; J Wisniewski, C McLeod; F Barcella, A Heguy, D Edwards, B Hand (C), P Kimlin, H Vanderglas, M Diaby, R Grice. Replacements: L Jammes, S Taumalolo, R de Klerk, J Percival, F Alexandre, C Loustalot, G Bosch, F Gengenbacher.
Edinburgh: G Tonks; D Hoyland, M Allen, M Scott, W Helu; P Burleigh, S Hidalgo-Clyne; A Dickinson, R Ford, WP Nel, A Bresler, B Toolis, M Coman (C), J Hardie, C Du Preez. Replacements: N Cochrane, A Dell, S Berghan, A Toolis, H Watson, N Fowles, A Strauss, D Fife
Referee: G Garner (England)
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 here