KO 7.35 at Hive Stadium
Friday 1st March 2024
Live on Viaplay Sports 1

  • Edinburgh have named the oldest XV for any of their games in the URC so far this season. The pack alone has an average age of just under 31, with 26 year old Tom Dodd the youngest starting forward.
  • Edinburgh’s props (8 tries) have outscored their wingers (7 tries) so far this season. That ability to finish off from close range could be handy against a stuffy Ospreys’ defence that ranks 4th in the URC for points conceded.
  • Welsh sides have only won 4 matches against teams from the other 4 URC Nations so far this season – Ospreys have provided 3 of those victories.
  • The Os haven’t won a league match outwith Wales for over a year, since they defeated Zebre in Parma at the end of January 2023. Their most recent victory in Scotland was back in October 2020 when they downed Edinburgh at an empty Murrayfield.
  • The visitors’ replacement scrum half, Cameron Jones, played twice for Edinburgh's A side during their 2023 Super Series campaign.

Teams:

Scotland Rugby News:

(players in CAPITALS are full capped internationals, numbers in brackets are previous appearances for Edinburgh / Ospreys)

Head to Head:

Scotland Rugby News:

Edinburgh Introductions:

Luan de Bruin (who has primarily featured as a tighthead prop for Edinburgh but is listed to cover the loosehead from the bench) could make his first appearance of the season after being an unused sub last time out against Zebre.

Paddy Harrison hasn’t played a home fixture for the club since 7th January 2023. The young hooker will be looking to grab his chance while Ewan Ashman is unavailable on international duty.

Matchday Milestones:

It’s the 100th appearance for Mark Bennett, who made his debut back in January 2018 against the Southern Kings. There have been times when injuries been a bit of a slog for Bennett and he deserves to enjoy every minute of his milestone evening. One thing that has never deserted him is his scoring touch. Across 194 games for Glasgow, Scotland and Edinburgh he has racked up 49 career tries so far – notching his 50th would be a fine way to celebrate on Friday evening.

Focal Point:

Edinburgh’s stand off, Ben Healy, will have more of a point to prove than many this weekend. Healy has played all 800 minutes of Edinburgh’s URC campaign so far, notching 97 of their 224 points, but has spent all bar 3 minutes of the first 3 rounds of the Six Nations sitting on the bench for Scotland.

The fly half has linked up most frequently with Ben Vellacott at scrum half this season – this will be their 7th start together – although his partnership with Ali Price isn’t far behind with 6 (there’s also been a solitary start for a Charlie Shiel / Healy pairing).

The developing understanding could be key to allowing the capital club to control the game against an exciting but incredibly young and inexperienced Ospreys’ duo in the half backs. Healy in particular has the opportunity to set the tone and show what he can bring if he does get more game time for the national side during the remainder of the Six Nations.

Current form:

Scotland Rugby News:

Edinburgh at home to Ospreys in the PRO12/PRO14/URC era:

  • 6 wins
  • 2 losses
  • 2 Try BPs
  • 1 Losing BP
  • 27 points out of a possible 40 (68%)

Previous match-up v Ospreys at home:

Officials:

Referee: Chris Busby (IRFU, 37th league game)
AR1: Rob McDowell (SRU)
AR2: Calum Worsley (SRU)
TMO: Colin Stanley (IRFU)

Mr Busby’s regular season record for 2022/23:

  • Matches – 13
  • Average penalty count – 23.5 per game
  • Home side penalties conceded percentage – 41.8%
  • Average card count – 1.0 per game
  • Penalties per card – 30.6

A ref called Mr Busby becoming a regular fixture at the Hive feels like fate and this will be the Irish whistler’s 3rd trip of the current season to take charge of an Edinburgh match. The previous penalty counts didn’t run in the Scottish club’s favour against either the Lions (11 – 10) or the Bulls (13 – 11) although the card tally across the two games was 4 against the South African teams to 2 for the home side (Ross McCann and Viliame Mata being the Edinburgh players to cop a sin binning).

Additional ref stats from: https://www.cardiffrfcfans.com/analysis/referee_heads.php?countryID=