Edinburgh can’t be too wound up - Alan Solomons

EDINBURGH head coach Alan Solomons is preaching the need to strike a balance between excitement and calmness as his side prepare to make history in tonight’s European Challenge Cup final at Twickenham Stoop.

Edinburgh captain Mike Coman with Edinburgh Airport staff before flying to London for the European Challenge Cup final. Picture: Ian Rutherford

Before departing for London yesterday, the South African announced his final line-up at BT Murrayfield and stressed the importance of playing the match and not the occasion.

He said: “What’s important is that it is just another game. You have to be at the right pitch because if it’s overdone, you expend a lot of nervous energy which is not going to help. You want to be wound up but not overwound, so to speak.”

Solomons has made three changes – one positional – to the team which beat Zebre in last Friday’s Guinness Pro12 fixture, for the showdown with English Premiership side Gloucester.

Greig Tonks returns from injury to take the full-back jersey with the rest of the backs unchanged. In the pack, Scotland No 8 David Denton is still undergoing concussion protocols so captain Mike Coman switches to blindside to accommodate explosive South African No 8 Cornell Du Preez, who moves off the bench after recently recovering from an ankle injury. Scotland flanker Hamish Watson also returns from injury to take a place on the bench, alongside Stuart McInally.