Edinburgh Rugby scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne has vowed to be back at his best in the Guinness PRO12 tonight when the Dragons visit BT Murrayfield.
The 22-year-old is the first one to admit that he has not hit top form since returning from the World Cup.
However, he is a confident character and is feeling good ahead of the return to league action after two European Rugby Challenge Cup wins.
“I've been a bit rusty over the last few weeks so it would be good to come into form any time now. I'm enjoying my rugby and things just need to start clicking,” the Scotland internationalist said.
“I'm a bit more established than I was last season and it's natural the opposition will target you and put a bit more pressure on you. I just need to learn to play my own game and not worry about those factors.
“People also expect a bit more from me now - which is great.
“It puts pressure on me and I enjoy that, when things don't go well though people look to me along with all of the other Scotland guys to take responsibility. It makes the mistakes even harder, but you are judged on how you bounce back from these things.”
Hidalgo-Clyne admits that it took him a good few days to get over the disappointment of his potential game winning drop goal against Munster last time out in the league on November 7 being charged down.
“It was breaking me for a while - it's one of these things, you can be hero to zero in a second,” he recounts.
“If it had paid off we would have won the game, but instead I lost us it. It's something I've got to take on the chin and learn from.
"I always do a few drop goals at training for some fun, but I tried to stay away from them for a few days to be honest. I just wanted to bin the incident and move on.
“I have a rule; you can moan all weekend but then you come back in on the Monday, do your post-game review and move on.
“Now I am fully focused on the Dragons match and getting a win for the team.”
For the match Edinburgh make a few changes, Hidalgo-Clyne and Phil Burleigh forming a new half-back partnership and Chris Dean stepping in at outside centre.
In the forwards, Alex Toolis comes into the second-row for the injured Anton Bresler while captain Mike Coman returns to the back-row.
Meanwhile, forwards coach Steve Scott has praised the impact John Hardie has had since he arrived at the club a few weeks ago.
“John is a great player and a good bloke. He is quite a quiet guy who turns up and gets on with his work, but he brings a lot of qualities,” Scott stated.
“He wants to be clear in his role in the team and he can certainly deliver. He is a tough tackler and he is playing well in the Edinburgh jersey.”
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