WHEN teams talk about inconsistency, there are few better examples, when it comes to comparing league form with European results, than Edinburgh.

The most dramatic example of which came when they reached the last four of the Heineken Cup while finishing 11th in the league. Nevertheless, they are at it again this season.

Only three of the 40 teams in the two European tournaments boast 100 per cent records and Edinburgh - albeit they find themselves in the lesser Challenge Cup - are one of them, alongside Toulouse and Gloucester. What that means is that the Scottish capital outfit have won more games in Europe than they have in the Guinness PRO12, a strange statistic that they can go some way to correcting when they play Benetton Treviso tonight.

The Italians have had a troubled time of it. Sponsorship problems disrupted the team over the summer so that players left and, as a result, they have yet to win in the PRO12 this season - though they did manage a battling home draw against Leinster.

Which should make the encounter at Murrayfield a foregone conclusion, though Alan Solomons, the Edinburgh head coach, is refusing to see it that way. "The interesting thing about them is that if you look at the PRO12, which is what they are focused on, they have not lost their games by much, no more than 10 or 12 points," he said "They have been close on all occasions and they are a physical outfit with some big men in that side."

One reason Edinburgh have been so maddeningly inconsistent this season has undoubtedly been the crippling injury list, which has meant they have been without every one of the players they had expected to rely on at some stage of the campaign.

On that score, it was entirely in keeping with the luck they have been having that the damage continues to roll on from week to week with Matt Scott the latest to go down. At least this time it looks more like a precaution as he nurses a sore hip and Solomons fully expects him to be fit to face Glasgow in a little more than a week.

Still, after seven months on the sidelines after dislocating his shoulder, he could have done with an uninterrupted flow of action, as he tries to reclaim his Scotland place in time for the RBS Six Nations Championship. "It is a big pity because he was just starting to get a run of games and starting to hit his straps but there is nothing one can do. If he had played, he might have been out for three or four weeks, if we don't play him then he will be available next week," Solomons explained.

Slightly more worrying at both club and country levels, is that Ross Ford, the hooker, is still not available. He has not played since the Test against Tonga, reporting in the following week with a sore back that resolutely refuses to get better at anything like the hoped-for speed. Solomons says they are taking it week by week - they have not ruled him out of next week's game but have certainly not ruled him in either.

The good news on that front is that Alasdair Dickinson, the prop, and David Denton, the No8, have both recovered from knocks and take their places in the starting side. In both cases, however, the overall position remains unchanged since they return as their understudies, Rory Sutherland and Tomas Leonardi, drop out with injuries,

Elsewhere, it is a case of steady as you go with Sam Beard taking Scott's place and Mike Coman, the captain, moving position to let Denton come back in his preferred role and the rest of the team unchanged.

From a player's point of view, the Challenge Cup has produced some momentum and greater expectations, and they feel ready to take that form into the league: "We owe ourselves not just a result but a decent performance," was how Jack Cuthbert, the full back put it. "Everyone has been talking about European form but for us it is about consistently performing week-in and week-out no matter what competition we are in.

"This game adds a different kind of pressure, especially the way that Treviso's results have gone. They have suffered some heavy defeats [in the European Champions Cup] but, for me, there is nothing worse than a wounded animal. They are going to come here and focus on us; I think we would have been a target game for them some time looking for an away win. I'm sure they would love to come here and steal a result from us. We need to think less about them and more about our performance, though."