Edinburgh's place in next season's Heineken Cup was confirmed today - averting the prospect of a legal battle with the Scottish Rugby Union.
The Murrayfield side feared their place alongside Glasgow Warriors was under threat after the SRU closed down the Border Reivers. Edinburgh and Reivers entered last season's Heineken Cup as the highest-placed Scottish sides in the previous term's Magners League, with Glasgow competing in the European Challenge Cup.
With Glasgow's revival seeing them finish seventh in the league this season, there was never any doubt about their place in the Heineken Cup.
But, with just two professional sides remaining in Scotland, it was unclear into which cup Edinburgh would go.
They finished eighth in the league, a long way clear of bottom-placed Reivers who became extinct at the end of the season.
Edinburgh - run by brothers Alex and Bob Carruthers - were firmly against the closure of the Borders side and vowed to take action against the SRU - who control the Warriors - if Edinburgh were excluded from the elite competition as a knock-on effect of Borders' closure.
But with the confirmation that Edinburgh would compete in the Heineken Cup, Alex Carruthers said last night: "We always believed that both teams would be playing in this competition, but after all the uncertainty and media speculation about Scottish participation, it is good news for all parties.
"The tournament always captures the imagination of players and spectators and it will allow us to showcase the talents of our new squad in Europe's premier club competition."
SRU chief executive Gordon McKie attended the European Rugby Cup (ERC) meeting in Dublin today, where the make-up of the competitions was decided. He said: "This is excellent news for both professional teams in Scotland.
"The Warriors and their coach Sean Lineen will be very pleased with today's news and hopefully our neighbours at Edinburgh Rugby will be satisfied we have successfully argued the case for both Scottish teams to play at the highest level in Europe."
Meanwhile, Scotland head coach Frank Hadden has hinted there could still be a major role for those players not selected for his World Cup training squad.
Edinburgh playmaker Phil Godman and the Glasgow breakaway pair of Donny Macfadyen and Johnnie Beattie are surprisingly omitted from Hadden's initial group.
But the coach will name a further eight players on a standby list, and considers it highly probable he will have to dip into that group of players given he has two months before naming his final squad.
Hadden said: "There's going to be a number of players who are on standby and we'll be telling them shortly who they are. The guys on standby are never that far actually away from playing."
Scotland backs coach Alan Tait insists there was nothing behind Phil Godman's exclusion other than the coaching staff's preference for Gordon Ross at fly-half. "Phil is unbelievably exciting for us all, for Scottish rugby, and I know he'll come back into the squad at later times, but at this present time Frank has looked for the experience and it's a tactical decision," he said.
Centre Calum MacRae's inclusion was one Tait backed to the hilt, however.
The Edinburgh-bound 27-year-old, won his place despite being uncapped at full senior level. Tait had MacRae under his wing at Border Reivers before taking up his full-time coaching role with Scotland and said: "He's probably been my star pupil over the years, when I was working at the Borders. He's put a bit of size on, he listens all the time and he's a great leader on the field."
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