Finishing with a Heineken flourish is Blair's pitch project

Published on Friday 23 January 2009 08:59

DAVID BLAIR has urged Edinburgh to aim for their second best Heineken European Cup points total when the finish their Pool Two campaign against Leinster in Dublin on Sunday.

Although the Murrayfield men can't qualify, a win with a four-try bonus would take Edinburgh to 14 points and the only season they have bettered that was five years ago – the one and only time they have made the quarter-finals.

"That's got to be one incentive," said stand off Blair, who is recalled to replace hamstring victim Phil Godman for a first start since facing Ulster in the Celtic League last October.

He added: "Also, a lot of the guys want to take the opportunity to show they are capable of holding down a first-team place."

Edinburgh's remaining target is the Celtic League, in which they have won four of their last five games, and they need to maintain that momentum on visits to Munster and Llanelli while their internationals are missing on Six Nations duty.

The size of the immediate task in Dublin, though, is not lost on Blair including the fact that group leaders Leinster are seeking to edge Wasps out of the automatic qualifying spot.

Referring to Edinburgh's 6-52 league defeat across the Irish Sea in a match he watched mostly from the bench last September, Blair said: "That was a dark day and a lot of the guys were shattered afterwards.

"It mustn't happen to an Edinburgh side again but at least we know what Leinster are capable of. In Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy, they have particularly dangerous backs while up front Jamie Heaslip and Bernard Jackman lead the way in ball carrying. Our aim will be to stop these carriers in the tracks and, if we can make a good start, then there might be a temptation for Leinster to force things. That can lead to mistakes on a day when all the pressure is on them."

Blair is one of a handful of players who will have turned out in all four fixtures between the teams at European level over the past two seasons and he added: "Playing at the RDS can be pretty daunting but the upside is that the more we silence the crowd the better we will be doing."

What will be a new experience is linking up at half-back in the European Cup with Greig Laidlaw, drafted in at scrum half while Blair's brother Mike is rested.

However, Blair jnr is hopeful that the pair can quickly re-discover an understanding developed at age-group level.

"While Greig and I have both been playing for Edinburgh Accies on and off during the past couple of seasons it was in the Scotland under-21s that we were colleagues. Things went well and I'm sure we can carry on where we previously left off this weekend."

Meanwhile, Leinster coach Michael Cheika is warning his side to banish memories of their bonus-point win in the corresponding fixture at Murrayfield.

He said: "Edinburgh gave us a very tough game in round one where we capitalised on a couple of lucky breaks.

"They're a strong and competitive team and they're going quite well in the Magners League. They have been very competitive in this group so far, having done the double over Castres.

"They competed both times against Wasps and suffered only narrow defeats. We're under no illusions as to how tough a task it will be. Because we know them very well, having come up against them so often in the Magners League and the Heineken Cup, we're very wary of our opponent.

"We need to win the game, pure and simple. If you think about bonus points, that's the ultimate disrespect to the opposition."