CHRIS Paterson and Alan MacDonald have both been ruled out of Edinburgh's Magners League clash with Ulster tonight, as the visitors mirror their hosts in making eight changes to last week's team.
Paterson suffered an ankle injury when the near-20-stone lock Jim Hamilton fell on him in training, but Edinburgh coach Andy Robinson is hopeful the wing/full-back will recover in time for next week's Heineken Cup opener with Leinster.
The same a
pplies to MacDonald, the young openside flanker, who suffered a minor eye injury caused, accidentally, by an opponent's finger in last week's defeat at Newport Gwent Dragons. The injuries just keep piling up for Robinson who is also trying to blend resting key players with keeping others match-fit, while striving to lift Edinburgh from third-bottom in the league.
Jim Thompson, who replaces Paterson at full-back, only turned professional in the summer after a year in the SRU academy and with the national sevens squad, but injuries have thrust the 23-year-old into his first Magners League start after two appearances off the bench.
"You never like to see a team-mate injured, and I feel for Mossy (Paterson]," he said, "but when he went down on Tuesday I knew it meant I had a chance of being involved.
"It is a big step-up, but playing with the Scotland sevens last season definitely helped me develop, and in the last couple of weeks I have learned a lot about the level you have to be at to compete in the Magners League. The pace of the game is much quicker, and the physicality of pro rugby you expect, but you don't really know how physical it is until you get on.
"I have learned a lot from Hugo (Southwell] and Mossy, but I also hope I challenge them a bit in training too. Now I've got an opportunity and while I am new to this I'm hopeful I'll be able to play well and stay there."
The son of TV racing presenter Derek Thompson and grandson of Bill McLaren, the BBC's legendary "Voice of Rugby" – and cousin of Gloucester scrum-half Rory Lawson – the full-back admitted he had thought professional rugby had by-passed him until he joined the academy last year, and made a one-off appearance for Edinburgh.
"I did think that, but you never give up," he said. "Marc Teague has signed for six months and he's 26. You can't afford to feel that because you are not in the system at 17 or 19 you're forgotten, because that's not been the case for me."
John Houston returns to the wing after a long-term pelvic injury, and the way he shot into the team last year having just stepped up to the pro game from Heriot's provides a clear motivation for Thompson. Chris Fusaro is another, currently in the academy and playing at Goldenacre, who makes his first appearance in the Edinburgh 22 tonight.
David Blair also makes his first start of the campaign in a half-back combination with elder brother Mike, who was rested last week and has recovered from what Edinburgh yesterday described as a bout of food poisoning.
In the pack, Andrew Kelly takes over from Ross Ford at hooker, Gav Kerr, the Scotland prop, returns for Geoff Cross in the No3 jersey and Ben Gissing replaces Craig Hamilton at lock.
Matt Williams, the former Scotland coach now at Ulster, has revamped his side after four successive defeats have them languishing in the league's bottom spot. Prop Tom Court, Ed O'Donoghue, the lock, flanker Stephen Ferris and centre Paul Steinmetz are all promoted from the bench, while Ulster captain Rory Best and highly-rated young back-row forward David Pollock return from injury.
Darren Cave and Cillian Willis replace Scotland cap Rob Dewey and Paul Marshall at outside centre and scrum-half respectively, while Andrew Trimble returns to the wing from inside centre.
Williams said: "The changes I have made are all based on performance, apart from Kieron Dawson, who has been our best player lately – we are giving him a rest.
"Edinburgh are a very good side; Andy Robinson is a world class coach and their defence has improved enormously under his direction. They had a great win over the Scarlets a few weeks ago and played some high-quality rugby against the Dragons at the weekend. They know our form has been poor of late, and will be coming over here looking for a win.
"But our team are all really looking forward to the game tomorrow night; we want to make amends for what happened in Swansea. We all know our performance was below standard and are looking forward to putting things right."
Ulster: B Cunningham; C Schifcofske, D Cave, P Steinmetz, A Trimble; N O'Connor, C Willis; T Court, R Best (capt), B Botha, E O'Donoghue, R Caldwell, S Ferris, R Diack, D Pollock. Subs: N Brady, J Fitzpatrick, C Del Fava, K Dawson/M McCullough, I Boss, I Humphreys, T Nagusa.
Edinburgh: J Thompson; J Houston, H Southwell, N De Luca, M Robertson; D Blair, M Blair (capt); A Jacobsen, A Kelly, G Kerr, J Hamilton, B Gissing, M Mustchin, S Newlands, A Hogg. Subs: R Ford, G Cross, C Hamilton, C Fusaro, G Laidlaw, P Godman, C MacRae.
The full article contains 906 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
