FIRST came the reigning European champions, Munster, followed by the current Celtic title holders, Leinster.
Edinburgh Rugby's fixture schedule is nothing if not unrelenting as the welcome mat is set to be laid out at Murrayfield tomorrow for unbeaten league leaders Scarlets from Llanelli.
But the upside of such arrangements are twofold – Edinburgh are
compelled to set their standards high from the outset and, if victory can be achieved, then confidence will be restored all the more quickly after the heavy loss last week at Leinster.
That's the view of utility back Jim Thompson who is a player preparing to effectively start out at Celtic League level. He craves the chance to get off the bench, as he surely will at some stage. The 23 year old has only had one previous opportunity but things are very different this time round.
His debut was in September 2007 when he was a club player called up to fill a vacancy caused by World Cup calls and since it was Edinburgh's opening match there was nothing to benchmark their form against.
Move on just over 12 months and Thompson is a fully-fledged signing aware that there is a renewed mood of determination in the camp stemming from an old-fashioned honesty session where individuals owned up to mistakes in front of colleagues and vowed to put matters right.
"I think the way the squad started this week after losing 52-6 at Leinster was just right and has left everybody in the mood to go out and do their best against Llanelli," he explained.
"When mistakes occurred players were willing to put their hands up and say they didn't clear out the ruck or kick well enough, that sort of thing."
The aim is that Edinburgh can recover as well as they did after suffering their biggest defeat of last term when a 39-0 reverse at Leicester was followed six days later by... a 27-17 home win over Llanelli.
"Hopefully history can repeat itself," said Thompson. "If I'm called upon then it will be a special feeling running out on to Murrayfield to play for Edinburgh whether it is at full back or on the wing where I've been gaining most experience recently."
There are a growing number of astute followers who believe that Thompson can take to the professional stage as if to the manner born.
Until now Thompson has had to be content with showing his abilities either with Heriot's, the Scotland sevens squad or the national 'A' team.
On each occasion he has risen to the challenge with outstanding displays as Scotland reached the quarter-finals of the Murrayfield Sevens last year, including with a win over Fiji. This helped earn him a ticket to North America with the 'A' squad where he subsequently scored a try in a win over Argentina.
"Things happened very fast for me at the end of last season including my Edinburgh contract so it is no bad thing I've had a few weeks to settle into the pro regime and even put on a couple of kilos of upper body weight.
"My chance, if it comes against Scarlets, will probably be at the right time but whatever happens I'm aware of the threat they'll pose. Stephen Jones can control a game from stand off with his good boot while full back Morgan Stoddart is very quick on the counter-attack.
"We've watched a couple of videos of their recent matches and one thing that stood out was the quality of a defence we have to try to penetrate."
Indeed, in the course of beating Ulster, Dragons and Connacht the men from West Wales have piled on ten tries and conceded three.
Compare this with the fact that Edinburgh have surrendered eight touchdowns and have yet to cross the whitewash themselves and the magnitude of tomorrow's task is brought into sharper focus.
Thompson, however, is adamant that, whatever shortcomings may eventually be shown up, lack of preparation won't be one of them.
"Everything has been geared to eliminating the soft tries conceded and stemming from our mistakes," he explained.
"The plan now is to sort out these errors and if we do that then confidence can come pouring back so that we add to a pretty impressive record against the Scarlets."
That record shows Scarlets were one of only two teams Edinburgh defeated home and away last season – Ulster were the other.
What are the odds against repeating that feat? Here, best not ask young "Thommo" – instead ask old "Thommo", his father Derrick, who just happens to be Channel Four's respected racing commentator!
Teams:
Edinburgh: Paterson, A Turnbull, Southwell, De Luca, Robertson, Godman, M Blair, captain, Jacobsen, Ford, G Cross, C Hamilton, Gissing, Mustchin, Hogg, MacDonald. Subs. – Kelly, Kerr, J Hamilton, Newlands, Meyer, D Blair, Thompson.
Scarlets: Stoddart, M Jones, Higgitt, Davies, Brew, S Jones, captain, Martens, I Thomas, Owens, Meeuws, Cooper, MacLeod, Turnbull, Lyons, G Thomas. Subs. – John, Rees, Reed, N Thomas, Robertson, C Thomas, King.
The full article contains 844 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
