EDINBURGH ARE CLOSE to agreeing a ground-share deal with Hibernian, with a view to moving out of Murrayfield.

The Challenge Cup runners-up are expected to play a couple of games at the football ground in the coming season to test the waters, before committing to a permanent ground-share.

Edinburgh currently play their home games at the 67,000 all-seater Murrayfield, but are looking for a smaller stadium to play in.

Taking aside their traditional New Year meeting with rivals Glasgow which attracted nearly 16,000 people to the national stadium, Edinburgh averaged just over 3,700 fans per home game in the Pro 12 this season.

With capacity of 20,241 at Hibs’ Easter Road, it would provide a much more suitable environment.

Scottish Rugby Chief Executive Mark Dodson told the BBC that they are planning to stage some games at the ground in the coming season, before examining the logistics of a permanent move.

“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,” he said.

Dodson added that regardless of the outcome with Easter Road, finding Edinburgh Rugby a new home away from Murrayfield is vital.

“We hope we can come to some sort of arrangement for the coming season,” added Dodson.”We can’t stay at Murrayfield for the longer term,” he added.

Edinburgh last played at Easter Road during the 1998/99 season, when they played two Heineken Cup games at the football stadium.

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