Scottish Rugby

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Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt has welcomed back eight Scotland internationals for Friday's Challenge Cup match at home to Bayonne.

Everitt had rested several big names for the European opener - a 15-10 defeat by Gloucester at Kingsholm.

Pierre Schoeman and Ewan Ashman are back in the front row, while Grant Gilchrist, Luke Crosbie and Jamie Ritchie also come into the forward pack.

Ali Price replaces Charlie Shiel at scrum-half, and Duhan van der Merwe - who signed a new deal with Edinburgh earlier this week - is named in the back three along with fellow Scotland flier Darcy Graham.

"It's great to welcome back some of our internationals for tomorrow night's match," Everitt said. "Winning at home in these knockout competitions is vitally important, so having those guys back is incredibly important.

"We know that Bayonne can be a dangerous team; they played some great rugby against us last season and beat Scarlets last week, so they'll come to Hive Stadium with confidence."

Edinburgh: Goosen, Graham, Currie, Tuipulotu, Van der Merwe, Thompson, Price, Schoeman, Ashman, Hill, Sykes, Gilchrist (c), Ritchie, Crosbie, Bradbury.

Replacements: Cherry, Venter, Sebastian, Skinner, Dodd, Shiel, Healy, Lang.

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"Exceptional leader" Kyle Steyn has signed a new contract with Glasgow Warriors, keeping him at the club until 2028.

The Scotland winger has 28 tries in 79 appearances for Glasgow since joining in February 2019.

Steyn, who was appointed captain before the 2022-23 campaign, led the Scotstoun club to their first European final - losing to Toulon in the 2023 Challenge Cup showpiece - before they claimed the URC title last season.

Head coach Franco Smith says Steyn "can be truly world class" for both club and country.

He added: "We're proud to retain a player of Kyle's calibre and character. He is an exceptional leader who leads by example above all else, and is a huge asset to the club."

Steyn, who has 13 tries in 23 international Tests, said it is "one of the biggest honours of his life" to lead out Warriors.

"I've loved my time here so far, every minute of it," the 30-year-old said.

"My wife and daughter are really settled here, we've got a great set of friends in the city and the group of boys here make it a privilege to come to work every day.

"Everyone here recognises the quality of group we have, both here and with Scotland. I just want to be a part of that, contribute in every way I can, and take us as far forward as possible."

We asked for your views on Duhan van der Merwe signing a two-year contract extension with Edinburgh.

Here's what some of you said:

Steven: It is always a boon to hold on to a top international player and it should be good for the club as long as they can get him involved enough to get a decent return in terms of tries. I think for him personally he seems settled in the city after bad experiences elsewhere abroad.

Dave: Absolutely fantastic news for Edinburgh and Scotland. Wonderful player he has been for club and country, long may he continue to excite with his all-round play. Such a devastating player to watch and some of his finishes are brilliant.

Murray: Could be wrong, but personally I feel this is a bad decision from the SRU. Although I love that VDM is staying, I assume it's due to a more appealing contract. With funds already extremely tight with the SRU, surely letting VDM go would have been a smarter business decision. He would still develop in France, England or Japan.

Geoff: Obviously delighted he is staying, repaying Edinburgh's loyalty to him. He does need to develop a club style of playing as his international style isn't entirely suitable for club level games.

George: Great news for Edinburgh and Scottish rugby. We need to retain players of his quality in Scotland as this will help younger players to learn from him.

Jamie: The biggest hope is that in retaining Duhan it is not a detriment to the club's finances, that would then hinder other new contracts or bringing in other new players to strengthen the club. Duhan is a top-class player on his day, hopefully this contract will settle his mind and bring with it some much-needed punch in his game.

Tom English
BBC Scotland's chief sports writer

It was towards the end of his press conference on Tuesday when David Nucifora gave us a real glimpse of the kind of uncompromising character Scottish Rugby has turned to as its all-powerful performance director.

"I try to be engaging with people," said the Australian, who spent 10 hugely successful years in Ireland from 2014.

"If you want to work in this business, once you've worked out where you want to get to and how you're going to get there, you've got to be fairly bullish because there's lots of distractions, there's lots of things that will happen that will potentially knock you off track if you let it."

Nucifora went on to talk about the importance of single-mindedness. "If you don't have that, you can call it uncompromising, you can call it what you like, but this is a difficult business.

"I'll certainly be searching for people that are up for the challenge, that are adaptable, agile, all the things you need to be if you're going to work in high performance; people that are excited about trying to achieve something because if you're not, you're in the wrong business."

If that gives the impression of a guy who knows what he needs to do and knows how to do it, then good, because that's the way he came across.

Talk is cheap, of course, but not when you can back it up. And Nucifora can certainly do that.

In his decade as IRFU performance director, two Grand Slams and three Under-20 Grand Slams were won. Ireland hit world number one. They beat the All Blacks for the first time, won a series in New Zealand for the first time, made a Junior World Cup final and saw the previously non-existent men's and women's Sevens teams make giant improvements, both reaching the Olympics.

Throughout all that, Nucifora gave the impression that giving briefings to the media was about as high on his to-do list as taking a kicking from Paul O'Connell.

So when he spoke impressively on Tuesday it was tempting to look on it as, in fact, two press conferences - his first and possibly his last.

The Australian is here for two years but such is his way of doing things, there's no guarantee we'll hear from him again. His admirers in Ireland will tell you he's driven, focused and ruthless in the execution of his plan. His forcefulness caused friction, but a battle never bothered him.

"I really didn't have much intention when I finished in Ireland to take something else on," he said on Tuesday, adding: "But I was convinced there was opportunity here to do something.

"I suppose the temptation of being able to help reshape something I believe has a very high ceiling was attractive to me.

"I don't see it as being something that's going to materialise overnight. I certainly don't have a magic wand, but I do see that the structures and the raw material is here to work with. I look at it in a very positive light that we can achieve some really good things."

Nucifora will rework Scotland's failing player pathway in the first instance. "You've got to have a system underneath you that allows that sustainable success you're chasing. It's no good just having bursts of success and then dropping off.

"You have to be creative to find ways to create competition. Because if you don't do that, unfortunately, there's a terrible habit in human nature to become comfortable. So we need to find a way to create that competition, and that's best done by driving people from beneath and getting them ready to compete at the highest levels of the game."

This is going to be an interesting journey. Nucifora will not base himself in Scotland permanently, but he'll appear for chunks of time throughout the year. A human whirlwind, blowing in and out like a force of nature.

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Andy Burke
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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New Scottish Rugby performance director David Nucifora says improving the player pathway for homegrown talent is one of his top priorities, but the national team will continue to utilise players who qualify for Scotland on ancestry or residency grounds.

Scotland have been criticised in some quarters for their over-reliance on players developed outside the Scottish system.

Examples include current captain Sione Tuipulotu, who was born in Australia but qualifies through a Scottish grandmother, and Scotland's record try scorer Duhan van der Merwe, the South African-born winger who became eligible on residency grounds in 2021.

"You've got to operate within the regulations that you've got in front of you," Nucifora said.

"You've got to be creative. I think that at the end of the day, what do people care about when it really comes to the crunch? They care about winning. They care about having success.

"So you've got to find a way to meet that. And in the perfect world, you will want more players coming out of the system because I think what you have to do is you have to squeeze every drop out of every area that you've got access to, to be able to build a winning team.

"So if it's the pathway and producing local players, we've got to make sure we're doing absolutely everything we can to make them the best that they can be.

"If there are other avenues through using exiled players or whatever it may be, we've got to be the best at that as well."

Hear from Scottish Rugby's new performance director David Nucifora on the "high ceiling" of the game north of the border and his single-minded management style.

Plus, Tom English and Andy Burke discuss Glasgow and Edinburgh's fortunes in Europe.

It's all on the latest episode of the BBC Scotland Rugby Podcast - give it a listen.

Duhan van der Merwe says his "connection to the club and our supporters" was a key factor in his decision to snub interest from elsewhere and sign a two-year contract extension with Edinburgh.

The Scotland and British and Irish Lions wing has scored 45 tries across his two spells with Edinburgh and is within two appearances of becoming the club's latest centurion.

Edinburgh have described keeping the 29-year-old - who is Scotland's leading Test scorer - as a "major coup" and head coach Sean Everitt said: "Retaining a player of Duhan's calibre is a testament to the club's ambition as well as the environment we've created."

Edinburgh fans, we want your opinion on Van der Merwe staying put in the capital. Is it a great piece of business? Or would the funds have been better spent elsewhere?

Let us know your thoughts, external

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Jack Herrall
BBC Sport Scotland

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Duncan Weir says Glasgow Warriors must handle the atmosphere at the Stade Mayol if Franco Smith's side are to show the "best version" of themselves against Toulon on Sunday.

Warriors opened their Champions Cup campaign with a bonus-point victory at home to Sale Sharks in Pool 4 last weekend, while Toulon claimed an impressive win over Stormers in South Africa.

"It's about just making sure that the best version of the Glasgow Warriors go out there," fly-half Weir said.

"Not getting [swept up in] the atmosphere too, it's an amazing place to play.

"I played there, I think it was in 2013 away at Toulon, it's such a cool environment with the little chant they do before the game and all the rest of it, so it will be about us and how good we are at implementing our gameplan on to them and just staying relaxed and really enjoying it as well.

"Our away form's been good, it's been really pleasing to see that and how it's come on, we've got that great win out in Cape Town as well against the Stormers."

On the challenge Toulon can pose for Glasgow, Weir added: "They've been in a good, rich vein of form this season as well, so we know it's going to be a hard challenge.

"They're obviously big men, similar to Sale, but they've got some superstars in there as well. It's going to be a good task to see where we can match up in this competition.

"We got a lot of credit for Saturday's performance, but it will be nice to test it against another really good side on Sunday."

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Scotland and Glasgow full-back Ollie Smith is poised to make his return after a year out when 'Emerging Scotland' face Italy this weekend.

The 24-year-old ruptured his knee ligaments during a Champions Cup pool-stage match away to Bayonne on 15 December last year but has not featured for his club since recovering.

Head coach Franco Smith has now released Smith to make his comeback for the Scotland Under-23 side when they play their Italian counterparts at Edinburgh's Hive Stadium on Saturday.

The match marks the first 'Emerging Scotland' fixture and forms part of the national academy pilot programme launched in September.

Smith travelled to the 2023 World Cup with Scotland as head coach Gregor Townsend's second-choice full-back, and he is now focused on working his way back into first-team contention before the Six Nations.

Emerging Scotland Squad:

Forwards: Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, Rob Carmichael, Tom Currie, Mikey Jones, Liam McConnell, Euan McVie, Harri Morris (all Edinburgh); Macenzzie Duncan, Dan Halkon, Callum Norrie, Joe Roberts, Callum Smyth (all Glasgow Warriors); Rudi Brown (Vannes); Cairn Ramsay (Currie Chieftains); Rhys Tait (Doncaster Knights).

Backs: Jack Brown, Nairn Moncrieff, Conor McAlpine, Cammy Scott, Nathan Sweeney, Findlay Thomson, Lewis Wells (all Edinburgh); Amena Caqusau, Brent Jackson, Kerr Johnston, Ben Salmon, Matthew Urwin, Kerr Yule, Ollie Smith (all Glasgow Warriors); Sinjin Broad (Heriot's); Geordie Gwynn (Ealing Trailfinders).

Sandy Smith
Fan writer

In the wake of Edinburgh's defeat by Gloucester, social media comment would have you believe the club had disgraced itself at Kingsholm.

Apparently I was supposed to have felt insulted as a travelling fan. Any praise was apparently misguided.

The headline of course is that we lost and that can't be ignored. But in all the circumstances that surrounded this game my thought is I've rarely been prouder of the team, their effort, commitment and resilience.

Sean Everitt was entirely correct to go full tilt against Benetton. A loss there would have been catastrophic and that informed our team selection for the Gloucester match.

Look around the weekend's games, Edinburgh weren't the only side to travel lightly. Some of those fared a great deal worse than Edinburgh did.

We lost Ben Vellacott to injury in the warm-up. It was blowing a hoolie. Freddy Douglas picked up an injury around the 20-minute mark. There were also two yellow cards, the second of which was certainly debatable.

Even if we had travelled with a full-strength team we were facing a Gloucester side who had a very similar league record to ours, except they have scored more tries, so from where does the assertion come that we had some god-given right to win this game?

We gave a starting debut to Douglas and off-the-bench debuts to Liam McConnell, Connor Mcalpine and Rob Carmichael, who all advanced their individual causes.

With all that callow youth stepping up we were in the game throughout, which the stats bear out for anyone who took the time to seek them out before making ill-judged commentary.

A quick word regarding Magnus Bradbury. In the wake of Vellacott's injury he stepped up to the captaincy and did an excellent job of marshalling his troops. It was almost like he'd done it before. Next year?

A little perspective. This time last year in the same competition we had zero points and still managed to get out of the group so we are ahead of the game.

I won't be surprised if we are back at full strength against Bayonne at the Hive next week. I suspect only a 10-try win to nil would be enough to satisfy some though.

Sandy Smith can be found at The Burgh Watch, external

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Assistant coach Nigel Carolan believes Glasgow Warriors are no longer "underdogs" as they prepare for their Champions Cup trip to Toulon.

Warriors opened their campaign with a bonus-point victory against Sale Sharks on Saturday.

Carolan says he hopes the nature of the win left Glasgow fans "flabbergasted by how ambitions we are".

"We talked a good game and it was important for us to back that up with a performance," the 49-year-old said prior to Sunday's match with Toulon.

"If we can bring some of that panache to Toulon on Sunday, I think it's a true reflection of how we want to try and play the game. I think that's where most questions will be answered.

"Hopefully [the win on Saturday] left a lot of our fans flabbergasted by how ambitions we are, how brave we are and how accurate we can be.

"Our expectations are high. Unfortunately we crashed out in the last 16 last year. From that, we went on to win the URC and that's certainly created a lot of belief in our squad.

"We've been regarded as the underdog, but we've proven now we can beat anybody. We don't see ourselves as the underdog anymore and I think that has flipped on its head."

Glasgow and Edinburgh had contrasting fortunes in their European openers, now we are offering you the chance to throw questions at our rugby writers Tom English and Andy Burke.

Send them in via this link, external and they will be answered on this page later in the week.

George O'Neill
BBC Sport Scotland

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The most individual action in one half ever?

George Horne delivered a magnificent first-half performance, scoring a hat-trick before the interval while also being sin-binned for attempting to halt a Sale maul.

Surely there can't have been many instances of a player scoring a hat-trick in one half when they only played 30 minutes of it?

His second try was a thing of beauty, tip-toeing down the sideline to gather his own grubber kick before dotting down in the corner under pressure from the scrambling Sale defence.

The scrum-half was at his electric best and finished the match with 21 points. He is a central figure for Franco Smith's side.

Glasgow forwards immense

While Horne stole the headlines for his try-scoring exploits, this was a performance built on a wonderful display from the Warriors' forward pack.

There appeared to be multiple Rory Darges on the pitch, such was the body of work the Scotland flanker got through, and Jamie Bhatti's assist for Horne's third try will live long in the memory.

Glasgow were solid at both scrum and lineout and dominated the breakdown, both hampering Sale's attack and fuelling Glasgow's attack.

Zero rucks lost, 13 turnovers and a 100% maul success rate are all statistics that illustrate the forwards' influence.

Warriors serious contenders in Europe

Glasgow have now won their last 11 home matches in all competitions, stretching back to a defeat by Northampton Saints in December last year.

Toulon, Sharks and Stormers have all lost at fortress Scotstoun in 2024, and this was another demonstration of Smith's side's strength in front of their own fans.

With a URC title in the cabinet and the memories of away wins against Munster and then the league final in Pretoria, Warriors have proven their ability to beat top-class teams time and time again.

No team in the Champions Cup would be pleased to see themselves drawn against Glasgow. Although there are sterner tests than Sale to come, they will fancy their chances of a serious run in Europe.

It would be a disappointment if they do not get beyond the quarter-finals - their previous best finish.

George O'Neill
BBC Sport Scotland

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Bradbury takes on leadership role

Club co-captain Ben Vellacott was due to lead Edinburgh at a blustery Kingsholm but pulled out just before kick-off with an injury.

Without Grant Gilchrist in the squad, it was interesting to see Magnus Bradbury take on the captaincy.

It showed how highly Edinburgh think of the number eight, who returned to the capital in the summer after a two-year spell with Bristol Bears.

Gloucester dominated throughout and should have won by a greater margin, but Bradbury led a weak Edinburgh side admirably in tough conditions.

Rotation allows minutes for youngsters

Edinburgh's selection of a second-string outfit suggested they either aren't prioritising the Challenge Cup this season, or simply do not have the resources to do so.

Despite the narrow margin of defeat, they never threatened to win the game and struggled for possession and territory.

And yet, Sean Everitt's squad rotation allowed several youngsters to get valuable minutes in senior rugby.

Freddy Douglas was forced off injured in the first half but was replaced by Scotland Under-20s captain Liam McConnell.

There were also second-half debuts for giant lock Rob Carmichael and scrum-half Conor McAlpine, who trained with Scotland A during the autumn.

A transition season?

Edinburgh desperately need impetus and new blood from somewhere. Those young players could provide it, but it won't happen immediately.

They need time to adapt to top-level club rugby, and Everitt might use this season as an ideal opportunity to do so.

Realistically, Edinburgh are not contenders to win the URC. While they will play their strongest team where possible in their push for a top-eight finish, there will be more opportunities for Douglas, McConnell et al.

Short-term sacrifice for long-term progress could be the way forward for Edinburgh.