THE patience of those Edinburgh supporters who long for a more attacking style of play from their team will soon be rewarded, according to Phil Burleigh. At least it will as soon as a bit of dry weather coincides with game day.

Edinburgh’s first match in this season’s PRO12, a dispiriting defeat in Cardiff, was played out for the most part in heavy rain. Their second, last Friday’s far more encouraging win at home to Scarlets, was played in even wetter conditions, at least in the first half.

Together, the games reinforced the impression of many observers that Edinburgh are a side of serious, possibly self-imposed limitations - one that relies far too much on a dour, defensive game plan which, while sometimes producing the right result, rarely brings much joy to those who turn up to watch the matches. Perhaps more importantly, there is a widespread feeling that, until that game plan does give way to something more adventurous, they will fail to attract new followers in decent numbers.

Only 2650 spectators turned up at Murrayfield to watch the Scarlets match. Granted, it was a miserable evening and the game was being shown live on television, but it was still a woefully low figure; in fact, the lowest in the PRO12 over the whole weekend.

The vast expanse of Murrayfield is itself part of the problem, of course, which is why the operation is moving to Myreside in the New Year. If the team can have a good run of results over the autumn and be still in contention for a top-six place when that move takes place, the switch to Watsonians’ ground should take place in an atmosphere of optimism, albeit of the cautious variety.

Burleigh, for one, believes that he and his colleagues have it in them to compete towards the upper end of the league table. And, while making no apologies for the safety-first style which produced that 20-9 victory over Scarlets, the centre is convinced that his team can and will play more adventurously.

“It can be frustrating sometimes,” the 29-year-old from New Zealand accepted. “You have to play to the conditions.

“Unfortunately for spectators, that's the way we've had to play our games over the last two weeks, so I really hope we do get some dry weather. We do have a style of game we’d like to play in those conditions, and I think you’ll see it if it’s dry.

“The weather dictates our game plan. We have some very astute footballers and they dictate how we play in those conditions. Last weekend might not have been what people want to see, but that's the way it had to happen to win the game.

“The right guys stepped up and made the right calls. I think we did very well in those conditions. We played them better than the opposition did.”

What made the result especially impressive was the way in which the Edinburgh defence stood firm even while twice reduced to 14 men after Burleigh himself and Magnus Bradbury were yellow-carded. Duncan Weir at stand-off also produced a master class in how to play the conditions with some probing kicks that led to one of his team’s two tries in the first half and also relieved the pressure on several occasions in the second.

“Our defence coach, Peter Wilkins, does a very good job,” Burleigh added. “That's where we lacked a bit of impetus the week, before so we worked really hard during the week on our defence, came up trumps, and that's what won us the game, even with 14 men.”

With centres Sasa Tofilau and Junior Rasolea already on board, and Fiji’s Olympic gold-medal-winning lock Bill Mata due to join shortly, Edinburgh have additional offensive firepower to call upon when the occasion demands. Their defence will be to the fore again when Leinster visit Murrayfield on Friday night, but they will definitely need to develop some attacking flair over the coming months if they are to get the kind of results they need to ensure there is no repetition of last season’s dismal ninth place.

On the evidence of the past few seasons and the first couple of games in this campaign, Edinburgh have some way to go before their attack can bear comparison with Glasgow’s. Something similar could be said of just about every other team in the league, so in that sense the comparison is invidious. But Burleigh, for one, believes his own side can catch up quickly - provided they get the right conditions to play in.

“Glasgow have had a couple of dry games, and we haven't. They do play a different style to what you've seen [from Edinburgh] in the past couple of weeks, but if we get a dry night you’ll see a different team.”