1872 Cup: Edinburgh’s motivation to prove people wrong remains the same as Glasgow Warriors visit

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.