Veteran prop Allan Jacobsen and Edinburgh stalwart is still looking for success against Ulster

which is what he always wanted.

Meanwhile, his one-time colleague Ally Hogg was last spotted playing for Watsonians alongside another old-boy, Marcus di Rollo.

With one obvious exception, Edinburgh's old guard are missing from this afternoon's key match at Murrayfield.

Allan "Chunk" Jacobsen is still standing like some sort of fairground dummy that finishes upright whatever punishment is meted out. His longevity is a thing to behold: at the age of 31 he is still flying the flag for the city whose colours he first sported as a 15-year-old. His first game for the senior XV came way back in 1997 against the Brumbies and the prop eventually signed professional forms two years later. In all his time with Edinburgh, nine professional seasons and well over 200 appearances, Jacobsen has won precisely nothing, absolutely zip; the club's trophy cabinet resembles Old Mother Hubbard's, although Jacobsen was in harness when they last came close.

It was back in November 2003 that Edinburgh reached the Celtic Cup final that was held at their home ground of Murrayfield, only for a magnificent first 40 from Ulster to put paid to their hopes of silverware on the day. The very same side stand between them and the quest for honours this season as Rob Moffat's men go in search of a play-off place.

"I remember that final," says Jacobsen. "We played in front of 15,000 fans and most of them were from Ulster. We got booed off the pitch after doing our warm-up, which is the only time on the planet in any sport that that's happened to the home team!

"It was a great team (in 2003-4] with a lot of good players but this is a good squad. Back then we didn't have as much depth behind us, if we got a few injuries we struggled. I don't know, maybe that team was a little bit better than this one but this squad is a lot better than the 2003 squad."

Modern players are now manufactured and manipulated, pulled, pushed and moulded from an early age. They are told what to say and when to say it as if that is going to help them think for themselves. Happily, Edinburgh's popular prop has avoided all efforts at shaping him, barring those of Mother Nature; Jacobsen is determinedly old school and all the better for it. He is a character, and an amusing one too: he says what he thinks and it's more perceptive than most.

In an era where the grass always looks greener, "Chunk" is a one-club man, hugely loyal to Edinburgh. He is a qualified plumber who fully intends to return to "the tools" when he's done with rugby, or when rugby's done with him, and while a stand-up comedy career may be stretching the point, he does a better line in patter than most of his contemporaries.

On whether he blamed the backs for leaking seven tries to the Dragons: "Naw… but I'd like to."

On his overall view of how referees whistle the set-scrum: "I can't really say. Terrible!"

On his new three-year contract: "I asked for five but they weren't having it."

On his try-scoring feats in Tests: "I got a couple playing for a Scotland XV against the Barbarians. I'm taking anything I can get."

On his beard: "I can't be arsed to shave, I'm too knackered. We've just had a little girl, Maisie, six weeks ago, so shaving has been the last thing on my mind."

Jacobsen is looking thin, well thinner. Thinner by prop rather than supermodel standards, you understand. He now tips the scales around 112 kg (17 stones), which is probably his ideal fighting weight.

With the benefit of age and experience on his side, Jacobsen now admits that there have been times in his long career when his conditioning, or rather his lack of it, let him down. It has probably resulted in him missing matches he should have started, and as recently as the opening two games of the Six Nations he was overlooked in favour of the more athletic Ally Dickinson.

While 45 caps is a very decent haul, and the prop has plenty of mileage left in him yet, Jacobsen knows that it should have been more. "I wished I'd played a bit more for Scotland when I was younger," he says, before adding the obvious, "but I didn't.

"I remember being stuck on 13 caps for about a year and I couldn't see getting past that. I think it was big Gav (Kerr] that leap-frogged me in the pecking order. There were times when I wasn't as fit as I could have been and that's probably why."

That is behind him and the new-look "Chunk-lite" was drafted into the Six Nations team for the Italy match and in taming the formidable Martin Castrogiovanni, he gave Scotland coach Andy Robinson no option but to start him in every match since.

The barrel-chested veteran is also a crucial component of Edinburgh's play-off campaign that has spluttered and stalled in recent weeks. Rob Moffat's men lost to Connacht two weeks ago before leaking those seven tries in Newport last Sunday and they can't afford another slip this afternoon.

Jacobsen and his front-row union kept their end of the bargain against the Dragons, winning a penalty try in the first half and getting Chunk's opposite number yellow carded for ten minutes, not that it helped.

Edinburgh defended like demented New York cops waving the black and yellow traffic down various one-way streets, every one of which led straight towards the Edinburgh try line. The team will need to draw a line in the sand this afternoon or see their play-off dreams turn to dust.

"It's cup final time!" Jacobsen says. "We've just not played well in the last couple of weeks. We've made it hard for ourselves but we still have our own fate in our own hands and hopefully that'll bring out the best in us.

"Our defence has let us down. Earlier in the season we weren't scoring that many points but our defence was keeping us in matches and we were scraping wins. Now our attack has got a bit better but our defence has been shocking. We've got to sort it out. It's no good scoring tries if you're going to defend the way we have defended the last couple of weeks. You can't win games where everyone is fighting hard. Ulster will be desperate but so will we."

While others may be feeling the effects of a long, hard season, Jacobsen once again proves a law unto himself. He talks about becoming "battle hardened", something he only achieves by turning out regularly, week in, week out.

"The more I play, the better I get," Jacobsen says at one point, and his claim holds true whether you are talking weeks, months or even the nine long years he has been plying his trade with Edinburgh.

Edinburgh: Cairns, Visser, De Luca, Houston, Robertson, Godman, Laidlaw, Jacobsen, Ford, Cross, MacLeod, Hamilton, MacDonald, Callam, Grant (capt).

Replacements: Kelly, Traynor, McKenzie, Newlands, Blair, Turnbull, Thompson.

Ulster: Smith, Trimble, Cave, Whitten, Danielli, O'Connor, Marshall, Court, Best (capt), Botha, O'Donoghue, Tuohy, Ferris, Faloon, Diack.

Replacements: Kyricaou, Young, Caldwell, Anderson, Boss, Humphreys, Spence.

Kick-off: 4.05pm