Ross Rennie champing at the bit ahead of long-awaited league return

Published on Wednesday 8 September 2010 14:39

ROSS Rennie admits he has changed his approach to rugby in light of an 18-month battle to recover full fitness, but, as he prepares for his first league start in nearly five months against Munster, the openside flanker reasserted his determination to play a part in claiming success for Edinburgh and Scotland.

The 24-year-old has become something of a stranger in Scottish rugby since being derailed by a serious knee injury in 2008. He had just made his Test debut, against Ireland, when niggles led to a serious knee injury requiring surgery by the end of that year. He has shown incredible resilience and self-motivation to come back from a potentially career-ending injury, and heaps praise on the coaches and medical staff at Edinburgh, and further afield, for helping him do so. He is reluctant, therefore, to disagree with Rob Moffat, the Edinburgh coach, when he explained that Rennie was on a one-game-every-fortnight plan, even if he hopes that is merely short-term.

"Over the last couple of years I'd say, yes, the mindset has had to change a bit," he said in response to a question on whether the injury and lengthy rehabilitation had changed his outlook. "I have to have different preparation, different warm-ups and aspects to training to the other guys, but in terms of my ambition nothing has changed. Right now we're managing things and seeing how it goes, with a two-week thing, but I hope to progress that.

"I feel good, as fit as anyone. I want Edinburgh to be at the top of the league and, of course, I want to play for Scotland again. But people ask me about Scotland quite a lot and I find that a bit hard because that's not the focus right now. I'm just really looking forward to playing for Edinburgh again and doing the best I can to help the team win games. I played against London Irish (in pre-season] but it's been a while since the last league game. Of course you want to play all the time, but the way the season is now, no-one is likely to play every week so the idea that I might have to miss some games doesn't really make me any different to anyone else."

Only, he is different in that he has Test-quality ability that few in Scotland can match. But it is a balance. Moffat and the Edinburgh medics could throw him into the mix every week and pray for the best, in the knowledge that his knee might be ruined inside a year, maybe two or three. They have opted instead to look long-term, allow Rennie to play four or five of the first nine games, depending on how quickly his knee recovers after a match, and hopefully play for many more seasons.

The timing this week is perfect as captain Roddy Grant (swollen knee) and Alan MacDonald (hip) have not recovered from knocks in Cardiff.Chris Paterson takes over as captain, Scott Newlands returns to the back row, Esteban Lozada, the Argentina lock, is fit and comes in for Fraser McKenzie, and Mark Robertson is handed the chance to respond to the competition provided by newcomer Lee Jones. Stuart McInally, the former Watsonians no8 and Scotland U20 captain, could make his competitive debut off the bench.