GAMES against a team that is rooted to the bottom of the table always feel like a good chance to pick up a few points, but Edinburgh will take nothing for granted when they play Zebre today in Parma. For a start, the Scottish side are just two places further up the PRO12 than their Italian rivals, with a modest 14 points to Zebre’s eight. They have only won once on the road so far this season - a Challenge Cup victory over Timisoara Saracens - and their home defeats have included one to Zebre themselves.

Little surprise, then, that Duncan Hodge, Edinburgh’s acting head coach, warned that this particular league fixture will be a tough one, especially coming just five days after the home loss to Glasgow. “They’re in that league position, but they’re a good side,” Hodge said of Zebre.

“Playing away from home is tough; playing five days after Glasgow is tough. That’s just what we have to deal with, and we have to get on and do our job and focus on winning and be positive. We’ve got to impose ourselves on the game as well. That’s a massive thing. If we get our job right, that’s the most important thing. That’s what we’re focusing on this week.”

Edinburgh have won only three of their 11 league matches so far, and were given a lesson from Glasgow on Boxing Day on how to make the most of your possession. But, while the results have been less than ideal, Hodge is confident there are definite signs of progress within his squad. While his aim is to accelerate that progress, he knows that a degree of inconsistency is inevitable with young players.

“I think we’re all just greedy. You want to progress quicker and you want to improve every week more. It’s just little things every week. That was a new problem [against Glasgow], not being able to convert and score tries. Generally we have been doing that.

“On the flipside, our defence was much better - it was really solid at the weekend against a good attacking team. It’s just piecing it all together.

“You see [inconsistency] with some of our young players. They do some great things and then there’s a couple of mistakes. I’m not saying I’m accepting that as a coach, but it’s how we can develop that and make that better without forcing the good stuff they’re doing. It’s getting that balance - it’s a frustrating one and a hard one.

“We are hurting from the weekend. There’s certainly no taking all the positives from it and being over-confident. There’s none of that. I’d probably suggest we’re a bit the other way.

“No-one likes losing, certainly not at home, and we’ve got a big, tough challenge at the weekend. All we can do is front up and do our jobs and get on with it. Try and make amends.”

Hodge has made six changes to his starting line-up from Monday, three in the backs and three in the pack. Sean Kennedy comes in at scrum-half to replace Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Junior Rasolea returns at centre in place of Phil Burleigh, and Will Helu is back on the wing instead of Tom Brown.

“Sean did well when he came on,” Hodge said of the change at No 9. “Sam’s had some game time and it’s a five-day turnaround.

“We’ve not got too many injuries, and there’s a lot of guys needing rugby and eager to prove themselves. It’s a hard job just getting that balance - there’s still some frustrated people who want to play every game. It’s a difficult mix.”

Up front, Allan Dell starts at loosehead in place of fellow-international Alasdair Dickinson. Fraser McKenzie comes in at lock, replacing Grant Gilchrist, and Jamie Ritchie returns to the back row instead of Hamish Watson.

Edinburgh have still to offer a prognosis on Dickinson, who injured a foot against Glasgow on Boxing Day and is not included in the squad. So far Hodge has merely confirmed that the injury is unrelated to the hamstring damage that kept the loosehead prop out of action from the summer until recently.

Other players listed as unavailable due to recent injury include backs Burleigh and Michael Allen along with Scotland openside Watson, with the latter’s rib damage not expected to keep him out of action for too long. Edinburgh are off next weekend because their scheduled league game against Munster has been postponed to allow the Irish team to play their rescheduled Champions Cup match against Racing 92, and Watson is one of the sidelined players expected to be available for the team’s next outing, at Harlequins in the Challenge Cup on Saturday 14 January.

Meanwhile, Zebre centre Giulio Bisegni has been suspended for four weeks after being found guilty of foul play during the derby against Treviso eight days ago. A disciplinary panel in Dublin decided Bisegni was in breach of Law 10.4 (m), dealing with contact with the eye or eye area.

Edinburgh (v Zebre at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, today, kick-off 11am UK time): B Kinghorn; D Hoyland, C Dean, J Rasolea, W Helu; D Weir, S Kennedy; A Dell, R Ford, S Berghan, F McKenzie, B Toolis, M Bradbury, J Ritchie, C du Preez. Substitutes: N Cochrane, J Cosgrove, M McCallum, L Carmichael, V Mata, N Fowles, J Tovey, G Bryce.

Zebre: E Padovani; K Baker, T Boni, F Amasaga, G Venditti; C Canna, M Violi; A Lovotti, T D’Apice, D Chistolini, Q Geldenhuys, G Biagi, D Minnie, J Meyer, A van Schalkwyk. Substitutes: C Festuccia, G Roan, P Ceccarelli, J Furno, F Ruzza, G Palazanni, M Pratichetti, M Bellini.