Wed 10 Jun 2015 | 12:09

Edinburgh Rugby aim to 'test' Easter Road ahead of potential switch

Edinburgh Rugby could be moving to pastures new from next season as they look to move away from BT Murrayfield, the SRU has announced. 

The Capital side currently use the 67,500 capacity national stadium for their home matches, but struggle to attract more 4,000 spectators on average. The move to the 20,000 capacity Easter Road - home to Hibernian Football club - is viewed as a potential replacement for the Scots.

SRU chief executive Mark Dodson said, "You see some leaks in the press about us talking to Hibernian about Easter Road."

"We're closer to that than we have been for a while. Our hope would be that we can have a couple of games as a test with a view to moving there."

Edinburgh last played at Easter Road in the 1998-99 season, recording a win over Ebbw Vale and a narrow 29-25 defeat to Toulouse in the Heineken Cup, before moving to Myreside and then Murrayfield.

But now it seems that a return may be on the cards - for at least "a couple of matches" - in an attempt to attract larger numbers to matches. It has seen attendance lag dramatcially behind that of newly crowned Pro12 champions Glasgow, who have averaged over 6,000 spectators last season.