Edinburgh plan to rest four senior forwards including Jamie Ritchie against Clermont

Edinburgh's Jamie Ritchie, right, with head coach Sean Everitt. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

Sean Everitt, the Edinburgh coach, plans to utilise his squad and rest some senior players for Friday’s Challenge Cup opener against Clermont Auvergne in France.

The capital side have a testing run of fixtures coming up, with another European tie next week, at home to Castres, followed by back-to-back festive derbies with Glasgow Warriors. Everitt, who saw his side record a highly impressive victory over Ulster in Belfast at the weekend, is mindful of players playing too many consecutive matches.

“It’s the guys who have been playing regularly for us, guys like Jamie Ritchie, Pierre Schoeman, WP Nel and a guy like Grant [Gilchrist] who we feel we can give another week’s rest,” said Everitt.

A number of Edinburgh players remain sidelined by injury, with Scott Steele causing the most concern. The Scotland international scrum-half was signed from Harlequins but has not played since the pre-season game against Connacht on September 29. “Scott has got a hip condition that we’re trying to work around at the moment,” said Everitt. “He’s struggling with that hip and he’s had a second opinion on it. So unfortunately for him at the moment it’s just about rest - there’s no time frame.”

Sam Skinner, out with a knee injury, is scheduled to be available for the home match against Glasgow on December 30. Darcy Graham and Emiliano Boffelli are both expected to rejoin full training next week, with Graham in contention to face Castres. Boffelli is likely to have to wait a little longer. Duhan van der Merwe has recovered from concussion and is available for selection for Clermont.