Edinburgh's hopes of a Champions Cup upset dented with two Scotland stars out

Edinburgh have been dealt a double injury blow in their attempt to cause a major upset in Sunday’s European Champions Cup last-16 tie against Leinster in Dublin.

Captain Magnus Bradbury, consistently one of their top performers in a bleak campaign, will miss the trip to the Aviva Stadium with ankle ligament damage.

The Scotland No.8 sustained the injury during a clear-out in Saturday’s URC defeat by Stormers in Cape Town, a loss that all but ended Edinburgh’s hopes of reaching the play-offs.

“Maggie’s got ligament damage,” confirmed head coach Sean Everitt, with Bradbury currently walking with a protective boot over his foot. “He’s seeing a specialist on Thursday but he’s not available this weekend.

“He was able to finish the game so we’re hoping it’s not too serious. But it is a blow because he’s a good leader, very good in the ball-carrying department and he’s actually been one of our star performers. So we will miss Maggie this weekend.”

Fixture

Investec Champions Cup

Leinster

09:30

5 Apr 26

Edinburgh

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The loss of Bradbury could be partially offset by the return of versatile back-rower Ben Muncaster, who suffered concussion in the first of Edinburgh’s two recent matches in South Africa, a 54-17 loss to the Lions in Johannesburg.

“We’re hoping that Ben will be available,” Everitt said. “He’ll be seeing a doctor tonight and hopefully he’ll get cleared medically and then we could announce him on our team.”

Fellow back-rower Luke Crosbie is at least another week away in his recovery from a longstanding hamstring injury but the head coach is optimistic Scotland tighthead D’arcy Rae will be passed fit when he is assessed on Wednesday after being forced off against the Lions with a calf injury.

But Lions wing Duhan van der Merwe, who has missed Edinburgh’s last four games with the recurrence of an ankle injury sustained on Scotland duty against Wales in the Six Nations, has also been ruled out of the trip to Dublin.

Everitt hinted before the South Africa trip that the 30-year-old might be fit to face Leinster but although he is running again, Van der Merwe is not yet ready to return.

“I’m hoping [he will be fit] in the next two weeks,” Everitt said. “He had a flare-up on it – it’s something that happened in the Six Nations – and he’s just doing some extra rehab on that to strengthen the muscles around the ankle.”

Edinburgh’s season will be as good as over if they fail to achieve what would be a huge upset against the four-time European champions, who have only lost to La Rochelle (in the 2023 final) and Northampton (in last season’s semi-final) in 12 Champions Cup knockout games at home over the last four seasons.

“We’ve got nothing to lose,” insisted Everitt, who suggested the hosts will also be feeling the heat.

“We know that Europe does determine whether Leinster have a successful season or not, so we know that the pressure is on them to perform at the same time. We are alive in a competition and dead in another one. We’ve got everything to play for too.”