News
Preview: Castres v Edinburgh
October 16 2008
Phil Godman is poised to record his 100th appearance for Edinburgh at Castres in the Heineken Cup on Saturday against Castres, while fellow back Ben Cairns returns after recovering from a knee injury.
Godman, 26, joined his hometown team from Newcastle Falcons in 2004 and the former Merchiston Castle student has since become an integral part of the Edinburgh team.
He acknowledges the career milestone as being a genuine achievement, but stresses it will count for nothing unless Edinburgh return to winning ways.
"It is a great honour and to get a victory in France would make it even more special," he said.
"I wasn't really sure I was that near to reaching 100 appearances until I saw the statistics at the start of the season.
Meanwhile, Ben Cairns resumes competitive action in France after a two-month absence with a knee ligament problem.
The Scotland centre, 23, suffered the knock during Edinburgh's pre-season victory against London Wasps in August and has subsequently missed six matches.
Club captain Simon Cross has been named amongst the replacements after recovering from a long-term rib injury.
Castres have made a few changes, bringing in Australian Steve Kefu in the cenrte for Thomas Sanchou, and Kevin Senio at scum-half for Sebastian Tillous-Bordes.
Up front, Senio's fellow Kiwi Carl Hoeft is back in at prop in the only change to the pack that lost at Wasps.
Joe Tekori is on the bench at the expense of Colin Gaston, and there is also a welcome return from injury for points machine Romain Teulet on the bench.
Form: Castres desperately need some vitalising tonic, after losing their last three matches. Edinburgh need similar, having endured a poor start, a mini-revival, and then the disappointment of last week's first half against Leinster. Their record on the road is not one to sing about though, they have lost the last 17 Heineken Cup matches on the road.
Prediction: It's tight, but Castres will take much from their home advantage. Castres by three.
Castres: 15 Thomas Bouquié, 14 Lionel Mazars, 13 Steve Kefu, 12 Philip Christophers, 11 Rafael Carballo, 10 Cameron McIntyre, 9 Kevin Senio, 8 Florian Faure, 7 Darron Nell, 6 Steve Malonga, 5 Lionel Nallet (c), 4 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 3 Luc Ducalcon, 2 Romain Terrain, 1 Carl Hoeft,
Replacements: 16 Akvsenti Giorgadze, 17 Yannick Forestier, 18 Iosefa Tekori, 19 Leiataua Tomiki, 20 Sébastien Tillous Borde, 21 Romain Teulet, 22 Anthony Lagardere.
Edinburgh: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Mark Robertson, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 Simon Webster, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair (c), 8 Allister Hogg, 7 Alan MacDonald, 6 Scott Newlands, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Craig Hamilton, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Gavin Kerr, 18 Ben Gissing, 19 Simon Cross, 20 Greig Laidlaw, 21 David Blair, 22 John Houston.
Date: Saturday October 18
Venue: Stade Pierre Antoine
Kick-off: 18.30 (17.30 GMT)
Referee: Andrew Small (England)
Touch judges: Dave Pearson (England), Alan Hughes (England)