European Rugby Challenge Cup: John Hardie makes Edinburgh bow
Saturday 14 November 2015 09:22, UK
Scotland flanker John Hardie makes his Edinburgh debut against Grenoble on Friday, while Newcastle welcome back Mark Wilson from injury for their trip to Brive.
Edinburgh v Grenoble (7.30pm)
Edinburgh prop Alasdair Dickinson makes his 100th appearance for the club and Scotland team-mate John Hardie is handed his debut.
Grenoble make wholesale changes to the team that was trounced by Toulouse. Chris Farrell starts at outside centre with fellow Irishman James Hart captaining the side from scrum-half.
Edinburgh have won eight of their last 10 matches in the Challenge Cup and were runners-up last season, while Grenoble have lost 14 of their 21 away matches in the competition.
Edinburgh: 15 Dougie Fife, 14 Damien Hoyland, 13 William Helu, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Tom Brown, 10 Greig Tonks, 9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne; 1 Alasdair Dickinson, 2 Ross Ford, 3 WP Nel, 4 Anton Bresler, 5 Alex Toolis, 6 Mike Coman (c), 7 John Hardie, 8 Cornell Du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Neil Cochrane, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 John Andress, 19 Nasi Manu, 20 Hamish Watson, 21 Sean Kennedy, 22 Blair Kinghorn, 23 Chris Dean.
Grenoble: 15 Clement Gelin, 14 Tino Nemani, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Jackson Willison, 11 Daniel Kilioni, 10 Gilles Bosch, 9 James Hart (c); 1 Fabien Barcella, 2 Loick Jammes, 3 Kevin Goze, 4 James Percival, 5 Mathias Marie, 6 Mahamadou Diaby, 7 Fabien Alexandre, 8 Dylan Hayes.
Replacements: 16 Arnaud Heguy, 17 Sona Taumalolo, 18 Walter Desmaison, 19 Ben Hand, 20 Steven Setephano, 21 Christophe Loustalot, 22 Xavier Mignot, 23 Lucas Dupont.
Brive v Newcastle Falcons (6.30pm GMT)
Newcastle make wholesale changes to the team beaten by Worcester with Mark Wilson captaining the Falcons on his return from injury.
Brive have changed their entire starting line-up as Nicolas Bezy comes in to partner Bastien Duhalde at half-back.
These sides have met on 10 previous occasions with honours split at five wins apiece.
Brive: 15 Romain Sola, 14 Elia Radikedike, 13 Atila Septar, 12 Christopher Tuatara, 11 Benito Masilevu, 10 Nicolas Bézy, 9 Bastien Duhalde; 1 Damien Lavergne, 2 Thomas Acquier, 3 Giorgi Jgenti, 4 Victor Lebas, 5 Wilhem Steenkamp, 6 Said Hireche (c), 7 Poutasi Luafutu, 8 William Whetton.
Replacements: 16 Guillaume Ribes, 17 Goderzi Shvelidze, 18 Yusuf Tuncer, 19 Peet Marais, 20 Hugues Briatte, 21 Jean-Baptiste Pejoine, 22 Benjamin Petre, 23 Anderson Neisen.
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Craig Willis, 14 Marcus Watson, 13 Tom Penny, 12 Chris Harris, 11 Belisario Agulla, 10 Tom Catterick, 9 Micky Young; 1 Alex Rogers, 2 George McGuigan, 3 Taione Vea, 4 Sean Robinson, 5 Kane Thompson, 6 Richard Mayhew, 7 Dan Temm, 8 Mark Wilson (c).
Replacements: 16 Rob Hawkins, 17 Ben Harris, 18 Andy Foster, 19 Mouritz Botha, 20 Calum Green, 21 Ruki Tipuna, 22 Dan Marshall, 23 Callum Chick.
Live European Rugby Challenge Cup
