THIS time last year, it looked a safe bet that the next player to be tried at fly half for Scotland was going to be Greig Tonks.
That was before he dislocated a shoulder and then ran into a series of niggly injury issues dumped his immediate prospects into the sporting equivalent of a black hole.
Now, he has the chance to wind the clock back 12 months and prove that all that early promise in a position he played regularly when he was young but had pretty much ignored since turning professional, is really where his future lies. He gets his first start of the season at fly half as Edinburgh show faith in the group who came off the bench and rescued their home tie against London Welsh.
Alan Solomons, the head coach, was obviously impressed with the way they managed to step up the pace. Though it was not until 65 minutes into the game that his team edged in front, he feels they had taken control long before the points started to arrive. Of the seven changes he has made to the side that started at Murrayfield, four are sticking with players who made an impact off the bench and a couple more are injury related.
Of them all, the one with most at stake is undoubtedly Tonks, who will be playing his 50th game for the club but only his eighth in the position he will occupy tomorrow. "I am looking at playing fly-half but can play full-back as well," he explained. "I played in the Scotland A game [against England Saxons] at fly-half, that is where I got injured. I played the first two pre-season games at fly-half with a view to playing there; then I got injured again.
"When I came back Alan [Solomons] wanted me to get back into my stride and I played a lot at full-back to get game time and to get fit. Now, I am back focusing at 10. There is serious competition there, but I started the season as first choice fly-half so hopefully I will get back to there."
While he was away, the competition for fly half has only intensified with Finn Russell emerging from the Glasgow pool of talent to establish himself as top choice for Scotland while Tom Heathcote, who was struggling for game time at Bath, has moved north and settled into the berth seamlessly at Edinburgh.
Together with Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, however, Tonks was hauled off the bench after only 55 minutes of last week's match with instructions to get things moving and delivered exactly what he was asked to do. This is the reward. "The coaches said we had to get on and bring a bit of tempo to get the game going. There had been a lot of mistakes in the first half and we didn't get much momentum so it was good to come on, turn things around a bit and get the win," he said.
The positive aspect of last week's home game against the same opponents is that the first half, which saw Edinburgh trailing 13-3 at one point against a team that have not won a match this season, should have been enough of a shock to make sure there is no chance of a repeat the complacency that Tonks believes was to blame.
"They gave us a bit of a fright," he acknowledged. "This week we won't be as complacent. We know what they can do. It is more of a motivator for us to make sure we put in a good shift and try and score a fair few tries against them. A bonus point would be good. Within the pool we are sitting quite comfortably but we do want to get a bonus point win."
With a 100 percent record from their opening three games, Edinburgh are in a strong position to qualify for the knockout stage of the tournament, but they are not there yet. After losing to the Scots in the opening fixture, Bordeaux have gone on a bit of a spree and with try bonus points to add to the losing one they got against Edinburgh now lie only a point behind the Scots. The sides are due to meet at Murrayfield in the final round.
The renewed pressure puts the onus on Edinburgh to produce the scores they need against the pool whipping boys,. London Welsh, to make sure there is a clear distance between the teams before the finale.
London Welsh E Kear; C Elder, A Awcock, T May (capt), N Scott; O Barkley, R Lewis; E Aholelei, N Morris, T Vea, D Schofield, J Down, P Browne, C Kirwin, L McCaffrey.
Substitutes: N Vella, R Reeves, B Cooper, M Corker, B Pienaar, P Rowley, P Weepu, N Reynolds.
Edinburgh J Cuthbert; D Fife, M Scott, A Strauss, T Visser; G Tonks, S Hidalgo-Clyne; R Sutherland, N Cochrane, J Andress, A Bresler, B Toolis, T Leonardi, R Grant, M Coman (capt).
Substitutes: J Hilterbrand, G Shiells, WP Nel, F McKenzie, S McInally, G Hart, T Heathcote, S Beard.
Referee A Ruiz (France)
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