It's that time of the year when international players fret about fitting back in at their clubs.
It shouldn't be too much of a problem at Edinburgh, though. After all, where's the culture shock in returning to a side that plays at Murrayfield, has lost seven games on the trot and has a coach who says he's happy with the way his team attacks?
All things considered, it should be a seamless transition for the nine Scotland internationalists who will be back in action in Edinburgh's RaboDirect PRO12 encounter with Scarlets at Murrayfield tomorrow evening. The capital side have not won a game in the competition since their 50-10 thrashing of Aironi almost four months ago, a dismal sequence of results that has resulted in them dropping to second-bottom in the table.
But wait, for there is a twist in this tale of otherwise unremitting bad news. For while Edinburgh have been abject on PRO12 duty, they have shown an altogether more attractive side of their strangely split personality in the Heineken Cup, where clinching a home quarter-final tie – against Toulouse on April 7 – means they are officially one of the top four sides in Europe.
In fairness, the Edinburgh team that clinched that slot looks a lot more like the one that will take the field against Scarlets than the one that has been toiling on PRO12 duties for the past few weeks. Back comes that all-international front row of Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford and Geoff Cross; back come those Scotland half-backs, Greig Laidlaw and Mike Blair; and back come those all-action loose forwards, Dave Denton and Ross Rennie.
Lee Jones and Nick De Luca also make their comebacks, joining a backline to which Matt Scott, who won his first cap against Ireland earlier this month, had already returned. Setting aside Scotland's Six Nations woes, it is an impressive-looking side, and one that coach Michael Bradley will probably hope and expect to have in harness again against Toulouse just eight days later.
"From our point of view, we've had a bad run in the PRO12," said Bradley, whose generally taciturn manner still allows scope for a dollop of heavy understatement. "We do need to stop the run we're on and this is a very good opportunity for us to do that at home. That is our priority, but it is a dual priority for us this week."
Edinburgh extended their losing run to seven matches when they lost to Newport Gwent Dragons at home last weekend. Stand-in fly-half Harry Leonard's five penalties delivered all their points in a 15-29 defeat, but the youngster has not even been given the consolation of a place on the bench for his efforts, Phil Godman being the designated cover for the playmaking berth.
Bradley made it clear that he is looking for a far sharper performance against Scarlets than those he has witnessed over the past few weeks, but he flatly refused to blame his back-up players for Edinburgh's failings.
"You can point to a couple of different areas," he said when asked where things had been going wrong. "From my point of view and a coaching point of view, it's important to state that the effort from the lads has been top class. Where we've let ourselves down has been in the accuracy side of it.
"Against the Dragons we made six line-breaks in the second half but didn't manage to take any of them. We had some good rugby to create and not so good rugby to finish off. We snatched at a couple of balls which is not like us, and turned them over.
"That's kind of been the theme for the last four or five weeks, but it is very important to state that we are creating the chances."
Edinburgh could do Glasgow a huge favour in the race for a place in the PRO12 play-offs if they can take points off Scarlets, but Bradley hinted that the rivalry between the two Scottish cities is now at a point where offering a helping hand is pretty far down his own agenda.
"We feel a bit of pressure from Glasgow down the road, who were getting wins on a very regular basis, when they were missing players, and that's tribute to them," said the Edinburgh head coach. "They're our nearest and dearest and there is a fair distance between us and them now in the PRO12, so it is important for us that we do get the win."
While the wholesale reintroduction of Test players was no great surprise, Bradley did raise a few eyebrows by naming Tom Brown, the Scotland A full-back, in the side ahead of Chris Paterson. The choice increases the likelihood that Brown will be in the same slot against Toulouse, but also hints that Paterson could now be in the last few weeks of his career.
EDINBURGH (v Scarlets, Murrayfield, tomorrow, 7.35pm)
T Brown; L Jones, N De Luca, M Scott, T Visser; G Laidlaw (captain), M Blair; A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Cross, G Gilchrist, S Cox, D Denton, R Rennie, S McInally. Substitutes: A Kelly, K Traynor, J Gilding, E Lozada, R Grant, C Leck, P Godman, J Thompson
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