Nick De Luca looks to banish his personal demons by lifting Edinburgh

ALWAYS a bundle of energy, Nick De Luca has always had a reputation for lifting his team-mates, but he could do with a lift himself after a torrid Six Nations Championship.

The 28-year-old has this week agreed a new two-year contract to remain at Edinburgh and tonight against the Scarlets he will seek to bring some inspiration to a capital side searching for the winning feeling ahead of the biggest game in the club’s history, the Heineken Cup quarter-final at home to Toulouse next weekend. But the centre has been seeking some inspiration of his own since returning from Italy, where his second yellow card in the championship, for kicking the ball from the Italian scrum-half’s hands, was just one aspect of a ruinous finale to Scotland’s campaign.

The Dumfriesshire lad is nothing if not strong, however, a player who has come through mistakes, searing criticism and being dropped in the past and bounced back to produce fine form for club and country. He faces that challenge again now and, typically, makes no attempt to absolve himself of blame.

“Obviously I was annoyed to be in the [sin] bin,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m one of the key defenders and we were always going to leak a try then because we were under a lot of pressure. I have looked at it, and questioned myself, especially after saying I’d learned from Cardiff and would not be here again. I have to look at my own discipline and why I’m putting myself in those situations. There’s no malice there. I’m not really the ‘bad boy of Scottish rugby’.

“Against Wales, I panicked and had a moment of madness. In Italy it was a collective thing. We had been warned about not handling the ball, so I made a concerted effort not to put my hands on it… by putting my foot on it instead.”

There has been a Six Nations de-brief and the effect of De Luca’s sin-binnings did come up – his team-mates agreed that, had he stayed on the field, the championship could have been very different for Scotland.

But the nature of sport is such that De Luca will only move on from the errors when he conjures important positive, perhaps match-winning moments to put them in the shade.

In the past he could turn to senior players for guidance but now, in this Edinburgh squad, he is one of the senior players and so his task now is to cast aside personal demons and lift a side that failed to win in their internationalists’ absence.

De Luca returns with Lee Jones and half-backs Mike Blair and Greig Laidlaw in the back line hoping the restoration of the first-choice front and back rows will bring a major improvement tonight.

De Luca shrugs as the mention of Jon Davies in the Scarlets midfield, the Wales centre he took out off the ball to earn a yellow in Cardiff but, with Grand Slam hero George North back on the wing and Test half-backs Rhys Priestland and Gareth Davies pulling strings – Scot Sean Lamont starts on the bench – the Scarlets present a strong threat. They have won their last three matches in the RaboDirect Pro12 and have beaten Edinburgh in their last three meetings.

“They have quality throughout the team,” agreed De Luca, “but for me it’s more about us being on our game. We can’t dwell on things [Scotland’s Six Nations or Edinburgh’s poor run]. You have to deal with it and move forward. ”