reaction 'We need to get some pride back in the performance'
Edinburgh are odds-on to claim various unwanted places in the Heineken Cup record books. Still to surpass the lowest ever try count in a pool campaign, they need to score 12 at Saracens on Sunday to go past the lowest ever points tally.
In tandem with Glasgow Warriors they are on the brink of producing Scotland's worst ever Heineken Cup campaign at the worst possible time, with their guaranteed representation in the tournament on the table and surely now all but lost by the time the negotiations end.
Only if both win this coming weekend will they improve upon 2004/05 when, amid off-field ructions at Murrayfield, Edinburgh's defeat of Perpignan in their final pool match was the only victory by a Scottish team.
Since both are certain to finish bottom of their pools while they face English sides very much in the hunt for quarter-final places, either of them winning would seem something of a long shot.
"In terms of Edinburgh we're just taking small steps to build us back to where we want to be and we've got a big test at Saracens next weekend," said Edinburgh's captain, Greig Laidlaw.
"We're going there to win the game, of course. Every time we take the field we are. However, it will be a huge challenge. When they came up here they put 40 past us, so it's about us taking the small steps we've talked about. We need to get some pride back in the performance. Of course it's going to be tough to win away from home. They [were 2010/11] Premiership champions, [and are] coming off the back off a top performance in Racing Metro. I thought they were going to get hammered there for a while, but they've got a lot of resolve so I'll be interested to see how we come out of that."
Scotland's interim head coach, Scott Johnson, today outlines his plans for the overhaul of the national team.
Laidlaw, whose return from the sin bin yesterday helped inspire his side late on, appears certain be involved in some capacity, though it remains to be seen whether at scrum-half, his best position, or at stand-off where he played yesterday and has regularly done for the national side over the last year.
"I've had some good chats with Jonno and we'll see what happens," he said.
As for Edinburgh players' wider prospects he added: "Some of the guys put in good performances, probably better than a lot of us have been playing. Credit to Glasgow, though, they've been playing well, so we'll see what comes of that."
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