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Cockerill calls for Edinburgh public to help them upset Toulon

Cockerill calls for Edinburgh public to help them upset Toulon
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BT Murrayfield hosts Champions Cup rugby for the first time in four years.

Richard Cockerill has issued a rallying call to the Edinburgh public as he appealed for them to turn out and roar his side on against French giants Toulon.

The Gunners welcome the Heineken Champions Cup back to Murrayfield for the first time in four years on Saturday.

Cockerill knows his side will be underdogs against the Top 14 behemoths but reckons a noisy home crowd could inspire Edinburgh to an upset.

“A bumper crowd would definitely give us an edge,” said Cockerill.

“We’re bringing the three-times European Champions to BT Murrayfield to play Edinburgh.

“It is, to a point, new territory for us in recent history, so I’d love the supporters to come along and get behind their city and support us.

“We’re going to try our best. We’ve always said we’re a side that’s developing, but we’re learning our lessons quickly.

“As I’ve always said, we’re going to try and win every time we play. We didn’t last weekend, but we gave Montpellier one hell of a fright.

“The next step is to start picking off these big teams and we’re going to try that against Toulon.”

Cockerill has made just one change to his starting line-up after pushing Montpellier close in last weekend’s 21-15 defeat.

Jaco van der Walt starts at stand-off in place of Simon Hickey – who drops to the bench.

An unchanged back three sees full-back Blair Kinghorn named alongside wingers Dougie Fife and Darcy Graham.

In the midfield, Matt Scott – fresh off being named in the Scotland squad for the autumn Tests – is partnered by James Johnstone.

Henry Pyrgos is selected at scrum-half alongside van der Walt, who makes only his third start after facing Connacht and Leinster earlier in the season.

An all-Scotland tight five sees hooker and captain Stuart McInally pack down alongside WP Nel and Allan Dell in the front-row, whilst Ben Toolis and Grant Gilchrist continue their partnership in the second-row.

Fijian international Bill Mata starts at number eight, with the Scotland pair Hamish Watson and Magnus Bradbury completing the back-row.

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