EDINBURGH captain Stuart McInally says Glasgow “are not unbeatable”, but has urged his team-mates to concentrate on their own game ahead of the 1872 Cup opener.

The two Scottish sides in the Guinness PRO14 league meet at BT Murrayfield today in the first instalment of this season’s 1872 Cup, which is to feature three fixtures for the first time.

Something of a re-branding exercise, the 1872 Challenge Cup was instituted just a decade ago after its Inter-City incarnation was mothballed during the SRU’s ill-fated bid to take a three-pronged approach to full-time professional rugby when they were also fielding a Border Reivers side.

The acceptance of the economic folly of trying to retain the identity of the traditional heartland of the professional game cleared the way for greater focus on one of the oldest rivalries in rugby. But, as a replacement for the old international trial matches, 1872 Challenge Cup ties – so named to acknowledge the history of contests between teams from Edinburgh and Glasgow – have taken time to build affection within the rugby community.

The Warriors have made a dazzling start to their PRO14 this season under new head coach Dave Rennie, winning all 10 of their matches, but the Glasgow men have been less successful in the European Cup and remain without a victory so far.

Their domestic form means the last side to beat Glasgow was, in fact, Edinburgh in the final game of last season, when the capital side triumphed 29-18 at Scotstoun, but, although McInally played down the importance of that result, he believes it gives the squad confidence.

“We spoke a little bit about that game,” he said. “But not that much because it was last season and there are different coaches and systems in place – but we know it’s do-able.

“They’re a good team, don’t get me wrong – they’re a really good team – but certainly not unbeatable. In that last game of the season I think 99 per cent of the public expected Glasgow to romp that game and we turned up, were physical and we won, so we are excited to get back into it.

“We haven’t spoken that much about it to be honest, but the boys involved will know it’s an occasion that we can turn Glasgow over.”

Richard Cockerill has made it clear that his side are underdogs going into the game despite being on a fine run of form themselves, delivering eight wins in nine outings, but McInally, who will skipper them on the day, is enjoying the tag.

He said: “We are underdogs – they are unbeaten in the league. We’ve been underdogs with Edinburgh for a while now, so it’s a tag we’re used to and we enjoy that.

“All the pressure is on them and we have a home crowd to perform in front of and hopefully that gets a result for us, but my key message is to treat it like any other week and let the emotion of the day add the extra five to 10 per cent, which it will – but we have to control that or all the detail can go out of the window.”

The hooker, who impressed during the autumn when he broke into Gregor Townsend’s national side, added: “I’ve been involved with these games before and you can get caught up in the moment and the occasion.

“But at the end of the day it’s a game of rugby and the emotion takes care of itself when there are 20,000 people there.”

Meanwhile, having already announced new deals for Lewis Carmichael, Viliame Mata, Luke Crosbie and Jamie Ritchie this week, the club have announced full-time deals for sevens duo Dougie Fife and James Johnstone.

Both players have been named by Cockerill to face Glasgow today, and will join the club on a permanent basis for the next two years after their previous deals saw them play as part of a working agreement with the Scotland Sevens team.