EXPERIENCED Edinburgh second row Ben Gissing believes there will rarely have been better rewards on offer to any player able to hit the ground running in a new rugby season.
The message from the 33-year-old New Zealand-born star is that all places could be up for grabs depending on how well a range of new experimental laws are adapted to.
"For example, they've made the line-out more difficult to win and harder to def
end through teams (now) being allowed to include as many players as they want," said Gissing, adding: "That is going to bring certain challenges and it is going to be down to who is mentally sharper at the start.
"It will be about whoever has the best ideas, whose strategic planning is able to bring them back into the fold."
Preparations in the Edinburgh camp have been geared accordingly and, for Gissing, the stakes will be particularly high as he enters the final year of a contract having joined from Italian side Calvisano in mid-2007.
"I'd like to see out my contract with Edinburgh and then extend it but that is something that's in my own hands.
"Competition has stiffened with the arrival of Jim Hamilton in my position plus a couple of good young lads. However, that can only be good for Edinburgh and Scotland," he said.
Of course the new laws could also be particularly good for Aucklander Gissing as he looks to exploit a decade of pro experience while being happy to pass on any street wisdom himself.
"As long as I can offer something to the team as well as supporting others and trying to bring the locks through to be the best they can I'll be happy. Ben Cairns and Nick De Luca are typical of the type of player who improved as last season developed and there will be others to follow their example."
Critical in the past of the fact Edinburgh were not drawing bigger crowds, Gissing feels a corner was turned in that respect down the home straight last season.
"Marketing is better but for me a really significant moment came when we won the second last fixture at Ospreys with only seconds remaining.
"The determination shown to recycle possession through 17 or 18 phases until eventually we scored the winning try provided one of the best feelings I have had at Edinburgh.
"The aim now is to carry on where we left off when the opening fixture, a friendly against Wasps, occurs on Saturday August 23 at Murrayfield."
Gissing's own efforts during that late surge which carried Edinburgh to their highest Magners Celtic League finish of fourth shouldn't be underestimated either.
For it was his try which sparked a 29-12 win at Llanelli to bring the curtain down on 2007-08 and extra satisfaction stemmed from the way a training move was carried into the heat of battle.
On that occasion, Gissing ran a brilliant angle to collect a pass and blast through a gap towards the line still some 20 yards away.
"There is hardly a better feeling than to execute something that is planned for.
"The previous two matches were just too early to put the move properly into effect but when the chance arose at Llanelli I had to make sure I held on to a pass which came to me late and fast.
"Hopefully it showed how we can improvise at Edinburgh and that will be the name of the game again especially with those law changes likely to put a premium on using your imagination.
"We started working on the ploy that brought my try at Llanelli a couple of weeks beforehand and we're putting even more time and effort into ensuring we are up to speed for this season," insisted Gissing, who was speaking at a rugby camp organised by the Forrester club and attended by a large percentage of their 100 junior members.
The full article contains 670 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
