Edinburgh motivation to defy odds remains as Glasgow visit

United Rugby Championship/1872 Cup: Edinburgh v Glasgow Warriors (agg 14-33)

Venue: Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Date: Saturday, 28 December Time: 15:00 GMT

Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio Scotland Extra, live text commentary on the BBC Sport website & app

A week ago, Edinburgh fetched up at Hampden Park packing as much motivation as any team could possibly need in an 1872 Cup match.

A victory would have spoiled Glasgow's party in front of their big crowd. It would have brought a halt to the love-bombing of Franco Smith's team while simultaneously ending the chat about Edinburgh's weak will and soft underbelly, the endless questioning of their stomach for the fight.

Four points would have shot Edinburgh up to fifth in the table. Five points and they'd have been fourth. From also-rans to contenders. Bugs Bunny never had as many carrots.

Add in the fact that Glasgow were missing eight stellar players and Edinburgh had motive and opportunity. Their challenge, such as it was, lasted 26 minutes, by which time Glasgow had scored three tries and held a 21-0 lead.

Glasgow were dominant in every area. Slick and imaginative, powerful and relentless - they played those early moments exactly as they pleased. They had all the control and they decided the tempo. It was a ruthless evisceration of their visitors.

And so the questions about Edinburgh remain. How could so many international players produce so little? How could they turn in a performance that was so disjointed, predictable and plodding? How could so many good players look so utterly bereft of ideas, cohesion and threat?

Consider this pack of forwards, currently unavailable to Glasgow: Nathan McBeth, Johnny Matthews, Murphy Walker; Max Williamson, JP du Preez; Henco Venter, Euan Ferrie, Jack Dempsey.

That's a unit that would beat many United Rugby Championship opponents. But look at the starters Smith can still call on. Nobody who has seen Gregor Hiddleston, Gregor Brown, Ally Miller and Jack Mann will have a shred of concern about them.

None of this has happened by accident. Smith trusts his squad and has multiple match-ready options as a consequence. In eight URC games, he's started 36 different players. Practically all of them have delivered for him.

Smith is getting a big tune out of inexperienced players who drop in and out of the team. Sean Everitt can't get a consistent tune out of seasoned pros, Test match players and Lions. The gulf has never been as wide.

Unquestionably, he's one of the greatest finishers in Test rugby right now. Duhan van der Merwe took just 46 minutes to score a hat-trick against England in the Six Nations earlier in the year. That's how coruscating he can be. Against Glasgow? Largely anonymous.

We didn't see a whole lot of him the last day, which is consistent with his performances in the fixture in recent years. He has scored one 1872 try in his last 11 games. As a threat, he's been something of a mirage.

This is what Edinburgh are, though? They're an illusion. A team that looks fairly strong on paper but one that only occasionally fronts up. How many more times do they have to be pilloried for their failures before they rise up and start doing something about it?

The humiliation against Glasgow at Hampden was just the latest in a long series of abject results. From time to time they throw in a performance that offers hope before lurching back into mediocrity soon after. They've been going nowhere for a long time now.

And that fact makes the renewal of Van der Merwe's lucrative contract all the more questionable. Good for Scotland but not good for Edinburgh, who could do with using that warchest to strengthen at half-back and midfield, where they're so far off Glasgow's level it's almost embarrassing.

They're sitting ninth in the table. Last season t,hey finished 10th and the season before it was 12th. Progress of a kind, perhaps. But, with a budget in excess of £6m a season, it's a dreadfully low return.

The South African is without some frontliners on Saturday - Ewan Ashman, Magnus Bradbury, Paul Hill and the long-term absentee, Emiliano Boffelli. Even if he had them all, would there be any more confidence in Edinburgh getting the job done? Unlikely.

Everitt hasn't improved this team. At Hampden, Edinburgh looked disorganised and dull and unless he gets a huge reaction on Saturday then you have to fear for him. If they have a pulse then they'd better show it in front of more than 30,000 people.

This is Groundhog Day, of course. Many coaches - experienced and otherwise - have tried to get the great underachievers motoring, but only Richard Cockerill did it and even then it didn't last.

Word was that the players were a bit fed up with his intensity. Poor lambs. All the same questions still exist around this club. Call it culture if you're thinking big picture.

Everitt is in desperate need of a top-notch 10 and he needs class options in his midfield, too. A lot of money is being spent on players who are delivering little or nothing. They're flabby in a way that Glasgow are lean.

The players are failing yet again, but it'll be Everitt who will carry the can if this goes on for much longer. David Nucifora, the new performance director, will be watching this situation like a hawk. He's not known for his subtlety or his patience. Edinburgh need to win this game.

Shock, horror, a win for Glasgow, probably with a four-try bonus if they can find the accuracy they had at Hampden.

Glasgow are sitting pretty in second in the table, but they rank first in points scored, tries scored, clean breaks and defenders beaten. Hiddleston, who's been really good, is in for Johnny Matthews and Jamie Dobie, outstanding no matter where he plays, starts ahead of George Horne.

They're the only changes that Smith has made. Same excellent back three, same world-class midfield, same fly-half (Tom Jordan) who bossed the show the last day (Glasgow, what a monumental error you have made in allowing this guy to leave for Bristol) and largely the same pack that took Edinburgh to the cleaners in defence and attack, power, ball-carrying, skill-set and every category you care to mention.

For Edinburgh, the motivation to prove people wrong remains the same as it did at Hampden. Alas, so does the belief that they're just not good enough.