Edinburgh fringe players urged to press case for Heineken Cup spots

THE long and winding Rabo- Direct Pro12 road takes Edinburgh to the “Ravenhill Mob” tonight knowing that a good performance will be more important for the club in the long-term than anything they can still achieve in the league this season.

With news that ticket sales for their Heineken Cup quarter-final against Toulouse next month are rocketing, the fact that Edinburgh’s interest in the league play-offs has already gone by the wayside is of secondary importance to the need for coach Michael Bradley’s side to start to find some momentum and confidence.

They are missing the core of the team to Six Nations duty, but, preparing for a third-successive away match, Bradley is conscious that as many as eight of tonight’s team could be involved when Toulouse pitch up at Murrayfield on 7 April.

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The key is for those players, and others on the fringe, to grasp the chance to push into contention for what will be an historic 23-man squad and, for Bradley, that means learning from Scotland’s experience in the past two games and turning promising work into tries.

Bradley said: “We’ve identified with the players that, in our recent matches at home and away, we’ve had opportunities but haven’t taken them, which you simply can’t afford to do at this level.

“In spite of that, we haven’t sought to change too much for this weekend as the same formula applies. We will look to continue to create those chances but we must take and finish them. If we do that then we’re capable of winning this match.

“It’s a matter of concentration for the 80 minutes, doing the basics right and taking the opportunities that present themselves.”

This is now arguably the toughest challenge that any side in the league can face during the international window. Having strengthened their squad at significant expense, even without Irish internationalists and injured Scotland wing Simon Danielli, Ulster can send out a plethora of Springboks and capped players.

Notable amomng them are skipper Paddy Wallace, Stefan Terblanche, Ruan Pienaar, John Afoa and Pedrie Wannenburg, and now Ireland-qualified back row Robbie Diack.

It is, therefore, little surprise that Ulster have lost just one of their last 18 matches at home, albeit it was Treviso who last triumphed at Ravenhill, in December 2010.

Edinburgh’s strength in depth is being severely tested with no fewer than 16 players unavailable due to Scotland duty or injury, so they continue to bring through promising talent, for whom this game will be a crucial part of their development.

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Chief among them is Tom Brown, who shifts from the wing to his favoured full-back role in place of a player who has proven to be a top-quality mentor, Chris Paterson.

Winger Sep Visser, stand-off Phil Godman and centre John Houston also come in while Matt Scott is given a run at outside centre to fit Houston into the mix.

There is also a first start for new tighthead prop, the Argentine cap Ulises Gamboa, and Robin Hislop and Harry Leonard return to the bench, where promising young lock Robert McAlpine is primed for a RaboDirect Pro12 debut.

Ulster, meanwhile, are intently focused on pushing past Glasgow into a top-four play-off place.

Coach Brian McLaughlin said: “We were in the top four briefly last week and that’s where we want to be.

“We need to be at our best but, if we get the win, it will give us something more to build on as we target the Pro12 semis.

“Edinburgh are ranked above us in Europe. They’ve proved how good they are by qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup and they like to play a good style of rugby under Michael Bradley.

“We played very well against them at the turn of the year and we will have to produce something similar at Ravenhill.”

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