Lee Jones wants a European memory to savour

That is largely because much of the team that will be announced today have played little part in the league campaign, but Lee Jones could be forgiven for quite simply having little memory of it at all.

The winger was knocked unconscious in his fourth Test match, taking an almighty clattering from Ireland wing Andrew Trimble in the second half in Dublin at a point when the Irish were under pressure and Scotland pushing for a try. Had Jones had the chance to get the ball away to support – and Trimble did look to be offside – it was odds-on Scotland would have cut the deficit to 18-17 in the hosts’ favour. But, instead, the game was stopped for a lengthy period while Jones was treated on the field and carefully placed on a stretcher and taken off to hospital.

By the time the game resumed and Jones was trying to count fingers held in front of him, a back line re-shuffle had been effected and the momentum had been lost from Scotland’s attack. Ireland scored twice in the final nine minutes, and Scotland lost Max Evans to the sin-bin to add insult to injury, and went on to win the game comfortably, 32-14, writing another key period that went against the Scots into the 2012 Six Nations story.

Jones, however, still cannot recall much about it.

“I can’t really remember a great deal,” he said, “just snippets from the game. I’ve watched it [the collision with Trimble]. I had no recollection of what happened so I was keen to see what had happened and it was really strange watching the lead-up to it and the collision because I didn’t remember anything so it was like watching it for the first time.

“It was just one of those things that happen. That’s rugby and after a night in hospital and a bit of a sore head the next day I was feeling okay really. I stayed in Dublin for another night and then went home, and went down to my parents’ home in Selkirk for the week to recover. I think they were keen to keep an eye on me.

“But I was fine and after a week off I started to get back into training and haven’t had a problem at all. It was good to get back in last week and obviously the excitement has gone up a few levels again ahead of Saturday so it’s great to be back into it.” Excitement has been a big part of Jones’ season, from scoring crucial tries for the club, particularly in the Heineken Cup, to making his Test debut for Scotland against England in February and going on to score his first international try against France.

That game will linger long with the 23-year-old, the Trimble hit thankfully unable to dislodge the recall of the moment he took Nick De Luca’s pass on the counter-attack and swept round behind the French to score behind the South Stand posts, the old clock-tower end, at Murrayfield and put Scotland 15-13 ahead, before a swift response handed France the game.

He suffered poorer moments in the campaign with a couple of missed tackles providing salutary lessons of the importance of full-on concentration and spot-on technique in that intense environment. That only underlined his fledgling status as a Test cap, however, and he insists that he takes the good and the bad forward with him as valuable lessons now. And he believes he goes up against Toulouse at Murrayfield a better player, and more confident player, than the Borderer who faced France just over a month ago.

He is joined by Mike Blair, Greig Laidlaw, Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford, Geoff Cross, Ross Rennie, David Denton and De Luca, all of whom left that match knowing they had competed well and dominated long spells of that game and cost themselves victory with momentary lapses.

Toulouse have six survivors from that game – fly-half Lionel Beauxis, front rows Jean-Baptiste Poux and William Servat, lock Yoann Maestri and back rows Thierry Dusautoir and Louis Picamoles – with Jones’ opposite man Vincent Clerc and Maxime Medard out injured. Speaking afterwards French players admitted that they had underestimated Scotland, centre Wesley Fofana stating that they did not expect them to be as physical nor as dangerous in attack.

That element of surprise may then have gone, but it is replaced by an Edinburgh spine stiffened by a new belief that they can match the French.

“I think we as a team can take confidence from that French game,” Jones said. “It was one of Scotland’s best performances in the Six Nations, and I can definitely take confidence from it myself.

“I really enjoyed playing against France. The way they defend allowed us to attack a bit more out wide and I think Toulouse defend similarly and that’s good for me and the wide players.

“This is not Scotland v France, but Edinburgh v Toulouse, but a lot of their guys played in the France game and I think they play a similar game overall to Toulouse. They place a lot of emphasis on their set-piece and then look to counter-attack. That’s their main source and something we have looked at for this weekend.

“But I think we have shown the confidence that there is in the squad through the Heineken Cup. The fact we managed to win the first game against London Irish with a late score gave us a bit of confidence and that has built throughout the tournament. A lot of the games have been close but that has just shown the determination in the squad to win, and the focus on the Heineken Cup. The Scarlets game last week helped to get the internationalists back in, and it was good getting a win, so that’s given us a bit of momentum again and lifted the squad up a bit.

“Edinburgh had struggled in the league and we had struggled in the Six Nations, and it’s all about winning so it makes such a difference when we do win. Beating Scarlets was massive and getting back and playing with guys you haven’t played with for a while and gelling as a squad has been good.”

Now the focus turns firmly to Murrayfield tomorrow and what promises to be a unique occasion in Scottish club history. As is common across Scotland a busload of supporters from Jones’ home town of Selkirk is heading to the capital, and it now seems a shrewd move by Gala to alter the format of their sevens to a 4.30pm kick-off and floodlit finale, which might allow some Borderers to return to Netherdale in time to conclude a bumper day of rugby.

Jones has received countless messages of support, as he did in the week after the Ireland game, and that has buoyed him too. Many have insisted that he missed nothing by losing memory of the Aviva Stadium affair, and some expressed a wish that they might have too.

But tomorrow is a game he wants to remember, and just like his first taste of Six Nations rugby with France he is determined to provide reasons for himself and Edinburgh supporters to bring Murrayfield to life.

“It’s being billed as one of the most important games in Scottish rugby history, so it’s obviously a big occasion and definitely one I’m looking forward to.

“I think it will be massive. With more than 30,000 tickets sold … that’s brilliant. It’s what we all want to play in and I can’t wait. There’s a real buzz inside the squad.

“This season the crowds have been a lot better and it has made such a difference to the squad. The way we’ve responded to the crowd round the pitch has been good. This is a real step-up when you look at 30-odd thousand compared even to the 11,000 for the London Irish game. That one was special and it gave the boys a lift, so trebling that will be really special.

“There’s always pressure, but the guys are okay dealing with that and I don’t think it will make a difference on Saturday.

“I’ve learned a lot in the Six Nations obviously and that has brought me on as a player, but on the whole I’m still the same. The pressure that is on you as a player in international games, though, is something that you have to deal with and I think I can take that into the game against Toulouse.”