Preview: Edinburgh v Stade Français
January 22 2010
Stade Français have left recalled France centre Mathieu Bastareaud on the bench for their decisive Heineken Cup clash with Edinburgh at Murrayfield on Saturday.
In the battle of the capitals, two-time runners up Stade only need a losing bonus point to finish as pool winners.
But the incentive of quarter-final home advantage will be more than enough motivation for the French giants to go for the win.
Bastareaud is being rested in view of Stade's crucial Top1 4 clash with Castres on Wednesday.
There are a couple of changes to the Parisian side as Scotland international loose forward Simon Taylor returns from twelve week injury break to take a place on the bench.
Geoffrey Messina starts ahead of Bastareaud at outside centre while try-scoring wing Julien Arias gets a rest because of a stomach bug.
Scotland full-back Hugo Southwell must again fill-in at scrum-half due to the injury and suspension or ineligibility of all the other number nines in Paris.
Although Murrayfield is often more than three quarters empty for Edinburgh home matches, the 67,000 capacity stadium is a notoriously hard place to win for visiting sides.
The Scottish side, still missing captain Mike Blair with an ankle injury, have nothing left to play for in the competition but will be looking to spoil the party for Stade.
Fly-half Chris Patterson, who stands just two points from becoming the team's all-time record point scorer, says he is more in causing an upset than surpassing the milestone.
"Breaking the record would be a nice accolade, but it not first and foremost in my mind," he said.
"Over the years, we have beaten the likes of Toulouse in the Heineken Cup and it would be great to be able to add another big French club's name to that list."
Wing Simon Webster is called into the Edinburgh match squad for the first time this season.
His fellow wing Mark Robertson, centre Nick De Luca, prop Kyle Traynor, hooker Andrew Kelly, prop Geoff Cross and flanker Ross Rennie have all been reintroduced into the starting line-up for the team's final Pool match.
Meanwhile, Scotland international Webster has been named amongst the replacements after recovering from a hamstring injury which had prevented him from playing throughout the opening half of the campaign.
Webster admits he is relieved to be back in the squad after his lay-off through injury.
Webster said: "I'm really pleased to be back to be back in the squad; this is where the hard work starts.
"Obviously it has been really frustrating for me. But I'm just looking forward to getting a lot of work done over the next couple of months."
Edinburgh head coach Rob Moffat praised the decision to mark the recent passing of legendary rugby commentator Bill McLaren with a minute's applause before the match.
McLaren, grandfather of Edinburgh's versatile back Jim Thompson, sadly passed away on Tuesday at the age of 86, prompting heartfelt tributes from the rugby world.
As a result, Edinburgh felt it was fitting to conduct a minute's applause to celebrate the life of the 'Voice of Rugby', something that Moffat wholeheartedly endorses.
Moffat said: "It is a mark of respect that Bill deserves; he was an absolutely top-class person.
"You would never hear anybody say a bad word about Bill McLaren. Everyone will have their own special memories about Bill and I can remember in the days of 'Rugby Special' he would come and attend a club training session. He always had time for everyone.
"His rugby knowledge and enthusiasm was well documented, but I will always remember what he was like as a man - he was a true gentleman."
The teams:
Edinburgh:15 Chris Paterson, 14 Mark Robertson, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 Jim Thompson, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Roddy Grant, 7 Ross Rennie, 6 Alan MacDonald, 5 Scott MacLeod, 4 Jim Hamilton, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Andrew Kelly, 1 Kyle Traynor.
Replacements:16 Ross Ford, 17 Allan Jacobsen, 18 Davey Young, 19 Craig Hamilton, 20 Scott Newlands, 21 Ross Samson, 22 John Houston, 23 Simon Webster.
Stade Français:15 Lionel Beauxis, 14 Djibril Camara, 13 Geoffrey Messina, 12 Guillaume Boussès, 11 Marc Gasnier, 10 Ignacio Mierès, 9 Hugo Southwell, 8 Juan Leguizamon, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 James Haskell , 5 Pascale Papé, 4 Tom Palmer, 3 Rayno Gerber, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Rodrigo Roncero (c).
Replacements:16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Rabah Slimani, 18 Pedro Ledesma, 19 Pierre Vigouroux, 20 Simon Taylor, 21 Aristide Barraud, 22 Mathieu Bastareaud, 23 Mirco Bergamasco
Date:Saturday, January 23
Venue: Murrayfield
Kick-off: 15.45 GMT
Referee: Wayne Barnes
