Sean Everitt’s Edinburgh side will be bolstered this week by the news that their newest acquisition, Scottish scrumhalf Ali Price is fit and ready to make his debut for them against the Vodacom Bulls on Friday.
Price, who relocated to Edinburgh last week in a much-publicised move, will be a boost to the Scottish side as they look to host the Bulls, fresh from two consecutive away wins in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.
Edinburgh assistant coach Stevie Lawrie told Scottish media that they were looking forward to seeing what Price can do against the Bulls.
“Ali started training today,” he said.
“I didn’t know much of him [beforehand] other than how well he can play against us. We met him on Friday as a coaching group, he’s hit the ground running. He’s really good with his detail, and the boys are excited to have him. He’s certainly somebody that’s going to bring a lot of quality and a good bit of competition as well. It’s an area where we want to grow our quality, and if we can have competition in our squad that’s only going to be great for everybody.”
Edinburgh are likely to be boosted further by the return of Jamie Ritchie, the Scotland captain, for the Bulls game. Ritchie hasn’t played since injuring his shoulder for Scotland against Ireland at the World Cup and will be a significant boost for Edinburgh’s hopes.
“Jamie Ritchie is available for selection as well,” confirmed Lawrie. “He’s training really well.”
Lawrie is under no illusions about how the Bulls will play and where their strengths are, and know Edinburgh will need to front up to stop them.
“They’ll be a massive challenge physically,” he added.
“They’ll bring their power game. I think they’ve gone back to that a little bit more this season. Wilco Louw has made a difference in terms of how they’ve scrummaged but we’ve also had some positive scrummaging displays, so that’s going to be a key area.”
Both teams are expected to name their starting line-ups on Thursday.