EVERY game Edinburgh play between now and the end of the season has the capacity to keep their competitive interest in the current campaign alive or to kill it stone dead as they battle on two fronts for European silverware and for that key sixth spot in the Guinness PRO12.
So when Munster visit BT Murrayfield this evening, it is a match that does not really need extra hype or focus. Which is a pity because alongside the need to keep their winning run going and the battle for league points against one of the main title challengers, there is also an element of revenge in the air, particularly from the Scotland internationals who last saw many of the Munster side when they triumphed at the Scottish national stadium en route to the RBS Six Nations Championship.
It means that for the like of Paul O'Connell, the Ireland captain who marched back out onto the pitch to be handed the trophy in front of a small army of travelling fans, there are only good memories of playing at the ground. For those on the Scottish side, these are memories that need to be wiped.
"That game was pretty gutting," was the blunt assessment from Alasdair Dickinson, the Scotland and Edinburgh prop. "He [O'Connell] has a recent fond memory of being here, so it is up to us to turn it around. We know what is coming, they are a class outfit and it we have to improve massively from last week's performance, cut down the errors and soft penalties."
Dickinson himself has become something of a folk hero around the Edinburgh ranks, since he was the one who managed to get himself under the ball last week as David Paice, the London Irish hooker, drove over the line but failed to get the winning try long after time was up on the stadium clock.
The Scotland prop is modest about the incident. "I only did what anyone would have done; right place, right time,"he said. "I just fell and managed to keep the ball on my chest; that was it. I think Sammy [Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, the scrum half] did a bit of work for me too, but anyone else would have done the same. We got the win, that was all that counts.
"It's the nature of my position. You tend to be close to the ruck, especially right on the line like that. It was a bit nail-biting at the end. I did not know what the referee had asked. Sometimes it is if there is any reason why he can't award the try, you never know what the outcome will be.
"I just fell back, and the ball was on my chest. There was no way it was grounded, but you never know what the fourth official will make of it, you could not see the ball. It was still nail-biting even though we knew the ball was off the ground. It was last minute so there was no way back but it meant we had not played that well and still managed to win."
They would probably settle for the same outcome this evening, and with Alan Solomons, the head coach, having stuck with the same starting XV, confidence is high, though they know the challenges only get harder. O'Connell and his chums want to keep those Irish Murrayfield memories fresh and happy
Edinburgh: G Tonks; D Fife, P Burleigh, A Strauss, T Visser; T Heathcote, S Hidalgo-Clyne; A Dickinson, R Ford (Captain), W Nel, A Bresler, B Toolis, R Grant, H Watson, D Denton. Replacements: S Mcinally, G Shiells, J Andress, F Mckenzie, T Leonardi, N Fowles, S Beard, T Brown.
Munster: F Jones; K Earls, A Smith, D Hurley, S Zebo; I Keatley, C Murray; D Kilcoyne, D Casey, BJ Botha, B Holland, P O'Connell, P O'Mahony (C), T O'Donnell, CJ Stander. Replacements: E Guinazu, J Cronin, S Archer, D Ryan, D O'Callaghan, D Williams, JJ Hanrahan, R O'Mahony.
Referee: I Davies (Wales)
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