Hampden, sibling rivalry & the mental battle

A crowd of about 25,000 is expected at Hampden on Sunday

URC: Glasgow Warriors v Edinburgh

Venue: Hampden Park, Glasgow Date: Sunday, 22 December Time: 15:00 GMT

Coverage: Listen live on BBC Sounds and follow live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app

On the face of it, round one of the 1872 Cup on Sunday should be a straightforward win for Glasgow, the home (from home) team at Hampden.

The reigning champions welcome the team who finished 10th last season. Glasgow, who currently sit second in the table, against Edinburgh, who are down in eighth.

Franco Smith's boys are top points scorers in the URC and joint-top try-scorers. If you want to delve deeper into the stats, they're number one in terms of defenders beaten, too.

They've won four of the last five meetings with Edinburgh, have had more clean breaks this season, more offloads and - by admittedly small margins - a higher tackle and line-out success rate.

They're warm favourites to make it five out of six against Sean Everitt's underachievers.

The Hampden factor

The move to Hampden makes sense and it'll be a commercial winner with 25,000 tickets already sold, which is already three times what Scotstoun could have held.

Some anxious Warriors fans are getting fretful, though. Glasgow's record at Scotstoun is outstanding. In their usual home, you could hang your hat on them against most teams in Europe.

It's a two-pronged thing. Glasgow are away from their fortress and Edinburgh, whose away record is awful, are now playing in something of a neutral territory.

For a team that's lost 11 of their last 16 away games, that can only be a help.

Time for the Duhan and Darcy show

They're two of the most exhilarating wings in world rugby, but not in this fixture.

Ranked numbers one and two in the all-time Scotland try-scoring chart, Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham have not extended their strike-rate into the 1872 despite being the leading combination in URC defenders beaten this season.

Incredibly, Van der Merwe has scored one try in his last 10 games against Glasgow. By comparison, the Glasgow hooker, Johnny Matthews, has two in two.

Even more incredibly, Graham only has two in 12 against Glasgow and both came in the same match. That's 11 tryless games out of 12 for one of the greatest wings the Scottish game has ever seen.

Some of this can be explained by Edinburgh's lack of class distributors at 10 and in the midfield over the years, but even still, it's surprising.

Graham is a fiend for work and will go hunting for ball when it doesn't come to him. Van der Merwe, with his power and pace, is an astonishing finisher who can score from nothing.

Both of them need to find their Test form on Sunday.

Weakened Warriors vulnerable?

Glasgow won last season's 1872 Cup

We're used to Franco Smith shuffling his deck and still getting good performances - normally winning ones - out of his squad, no matter who happens to be in it.

Edinburgh, save for a few frontliners, are close to full strength. Glasgow are not.

For a variety of reasons - injury, suspension, workload - they're without Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey, Henco Venter, Max Williamson, Euan Ferrie, Stafford McDowall, Adam Hastings and Josh McKay.

That's an enormous amount of power and nous. Glasgow's team is still formidable, which is credit to the squad that Smith has built.

Edinburgh should be seeing this as an opportunity to deliver a rare victory against expectation. That is, a win that few saw coming.

It's high-time they stirred and doing it against the champions would be a decent place to start.

The mental battle

Edinburgh players and coaches don't like it when their mentality is questioned, which is fair enough.

There's one way to make those questions redundant, though. And season after season they fail to answer them.

On paper, they can win this game, no question. You'd worry about them at 10 and whether Ross Thompson can get control of it in the way we know his counterpart, Tom Jordan, can.

But elsewhere, they have the artillery. Or should have.

The game within the game is the psychology, though. Time and again, Glasgow show their mental fortitude. Even when not playing well, they dig in and win or get a losing bonus or a four-try bonus or both, as they did in Toulon last weekend.

Glasgow are as resilient as hell - and murder to play against.

Edinburgh almost need the stars to be perfectly aligned in order to get over the line. They have won ugly in the past, but they don't convince when a game becomes a battle of attrition.

It's infuriating because they have the players. Surely all the praise that Glasgow have been getting for seasons now must drive them crazy. Surely that anger can be harnessed and turned against Glasgow. We're still waiting. Maybe this time.

Sibling rivalry

Sione versus Mosese. The story of the Tuipulotus has charmed everyone in Scottish rugby. Two good guys with a fascinating background.

It's all been about Sione up to now, but this is the type of game where Mosese can announce himself.

He's Sione-lite, right now. He has the power, the skill, the running game, but not the experience and the heavyweight team of winners around him.

Seeing how Tuipulotu the younger handles his largely unstoppable older brother could be one of the features of the day.

If Sione has weaknesses - so far, they've not really been visible to the naked eye - then you'd imagine his brother, and the person who knows him best, will be able to find them. Exploiting them is another matter.

The verdict

Glasgow might be missing a stellar cast, but the return of Kyle Steyn is a big boost.

Steyn doesn't have the flamboyance of Grahan and Van der Merwe. He doesn't get the tries and the headlines those two do.

But he, along with Tuipulotu, is the leader of this team. He's a brilliant decision-maker, terrific in attack and defence and a calming influence. His reappearance is important for Glasgow.

You have to go with Smith's team, regardless of the absentees. They've won big contests without big players before. With Glasgow, there's a reliability. You can depend on them to deliver, at worst, a good performance.

Edinburgh? At their best, they can win, but you don't know what you're getting. There's no trust there. No consistency. Their level can drop not just game to game, but half to half and quarter to quarter.

If they ever tied it together they'd be top-four contenders.

So unless Edinburgh can unleash a beast from the east Glasgow should win a close contest that will hopefully herald a new kind of Hampden Roar.