Edinburgh trio Robin Hislop, Mark Bennett and Wes Goosen are all set to miss Friday night’s Challenge Cup pool decider at Scarlets through injury, with Hislop likely to spend some months on the sidelines, according to head coach Sean Everitt.
Prop Hislop and centre Bennett both sustained knee damage in the 21-20 defeat by Gloucester on Saturday, while Goosen, who was playing on the wing, injured a quad.
“Robin Hislop’s knee injury definitely looks like a long-term one, but we haven’t had the results back from his MRI yet,” Everitt said yesterday. “Wes and Mark had their MRIs this morning. They won’t be available [on Friday], but we still don’t know the extent of their injuries.”
Darcy Graham is a doubt with a minor problem, but his fellow-winger Duhan van der Merwe will be back after being allowed to miss out last week in order to attend his twin sister’s wedding in South Africa. “Darcy got a quad niggle early in the game - I saw him go down,” Everitt added.
“He struggled a bit through the 80 minutes, and he’s also a guy that’s under examination at the moment. We’ll have a clear outcome of that tonight. It’s just short-term.
“Harry Paterson will be involved on Friday. Whether he starts or is on the bench depends on the outcome with Darcy.”
Paterson was a replacement on Saturday and was called into action after just five minutes because of the injury to Goosen. He can play at full-back or on the wing, but is likely to play in the latter position, with Emiliano Boffelli again taking the No 15 jersey.
Edinburgh will be guaranteed a place in the last 16 of the Cup if they beat Scarlets with a bonus point. Anything less and their fate will depend on results elsewhere. Scarlets are bottom of the pool and can no longer qualify for the knockout stages.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here