NASI Manu, one of the most experienced members of the Edinburgh squad, believes that better mental preparation for matches is the key to ending the inconsistency which has dogged his team this season.

The 28-year-old from New Zealand is in no doubt about the ability of his colleagues, which has been in evidence in big games such as the Challenge Cup tie against Harlequins and the PRO12 match against Ulster. Edinburgh won both of those games, but followed them up with dismal displays. Manu has no doubt that the physical and tactical preparation is correct, but, having witnessed how keenly prepared his team-mates have been mentally for the most attractive matches, Manu thinks it is fair to infer they need to put more into their psychological preparation for the more humdrum fixtures.

“The biggest thing is preparation,” the back-row forward said when asked how Edinburgh could put a stop to their rollercoaster form. “In terms of what we do as a team nothing really changes [from game to game]: a few drills might be added in, like a clean-out drill because our clean-outs were poor, or emphasis on being better out in the wide breakdown, but I think in terms of preparation we are pretty good as a team and you have to be consistent in your preparation.

“Individually I don’t think everyone is mentally preparing well and that is hard to measure. Those games against Harlequins and Ulster every single player is always up the whole week, you can see that mental edge. It is trying to, no matter what the opponent, prepare the same every week: it doesn’t matter who we are playing.

“From my experience I understand what works well for me, what I need to do to prepare well, play well and be ready right from the whistle. I have my own preparation and every player is different. Back home we actually had mental coaches coming in and making you understand how your mind works.

“One player could be physically stronger, but another could have be mentally stronger and that could give them the edge as a player. So back home there was a big emphasis on mental preparation.

“Here I don’t know whether it’s as big, but there are guys who need to relax, there are guys who need to get away from it to play their best. What works for me is not going to work for Dunky Weir or Magnus Bradbury. It happens and maybe over time we will get mental skills people in, who knows?”

After losing to the Dragons on Sunday, Edinburgh are about to head back down to Wales again for tomorrow night’s PRO12 match against the Ospreys. A five-day turnaround is unusual, but Manu is sure the squad is more than fit enough to cope - with the key issue again being how they prepare mentally for the game against a team that won in Glasgow at the weekend and are now third in the table.

“I experienced it [a five-day turnaround] in the ITM Cup where you have three games in a week,” said Manu, whose own team go into tomorrow’s match down in 10th place, ahead of only the two Italian sides. “My experience of it is more about learning off-field things.

“For me I guess the Dragons match was a bit tougher fitness wise as it was my first game in maybe a month, but there are other boys that have been playing regularly and have to manage that. Recovery is important.

“It was a pretty tough review [of the Dragons defeat] and when things aren’t going well you need a magnifying glass to look at all the things you need to change. For me, we made too many mistakes. I think it was 20 or 18 unforced turnovers and for any game that’s far too high.

“It puts a lot of pressure on our defence and things become unstructured and we have to work a lot harder in our systems. Execution and accuracy at the breakdown were not the best and they needed to be to beat a tough Dragons side.”

Manu scored a try against the Dragons in his first game back following a shoulder injury, and should be an increasingly influential member of the Edinburgh squad as he regains full match fitness. Even with John Hardie out injured and Hamish Watson having been absent on Scotland duty, the back row is one of the strongest areas of the squad, and Mata thinks there is a lot more to come from Bill Mata, the Fijian who joined at the start of the season.

“I think our loose-forward depth is good. These young boys like Magnus [Bradbury] and Jamie [Ritchie] are actually pretty capable. Obviously ‘Mish is another step ahead along with John Hardie and that. Jamie is capable of turnovers.

“Bill is a skilful man. I think he’s still finding his place in this team. He’s very humble and shy, but he’s really exciting. I guess the more he learns our structures the better he’ll be as the season goes on.”