De Luca confident of forging quick bond with Atiga

EDINBURGH’S Nick De Luca may be struggling to get to know his new midfield partner Ben Atiga off the field, but the Scotland centre is confident of striking up a potent partnership once on it this evening.

Atiga has fought to shake off a hip injury after joining Edinburgh this summer while De Luca returned from the successful Scotland tour to Australasia to reacquaint himself with five-month-old daughter Eilish.

De Luca said: “I haven’t had the chance to train or play with him [Atiga] much, but he is a quality player so I’m looking forward to the first match. All my spare time is currently spent at home with Eilish, so I haven’t spent a lot of time with anybody off the pitch, but he is a good lad and has fitted in well.

“He’s been brought here to make a difference and push Matt Scott and take his place or take my place, so there’s a lot of competition in the centre and that will push everyone on to good performances. Ben is a really skilful player with some good touches and hopefully we can combine well. I’d like to think we’re both quality players so will be able to gel quite quickly and will click under the pressure of the game.”

Returning to an Edinburgh camp with nine new recruits signed from outside Scotland is new to the players, but De Luca acknowledged that that in itself had provided a lift to those like himself who have been at the club for some time.

“It shows the commitment of the SRU and Edinburgh Rugby coaching staff, to say ‘we’re not happy with where we’re at, we’re still striving for better things’, and as a player that’s definitely what you want. Now, we need to turn the faith they’ve put in us into results. We want to reach the knockout stages in the Rabo and Heineken Cup and we’ve got the squad that can do that, so if we don’t it’s on our heads.”