BY the end of tonight, Hugh Blake will no longer be a mystery man.
He will have made his debut for Edinburgh so that supporters at both club and national levels will have had a chance to see for themselves if the decision to call him into a Scotland training squad before he had started a professional game was ever justified.
This is the first chance Alan Solomons, the Edinburgh head coach, has had to select the former New Zealand Under 20s flanker, who arrived in Scotland on a trial contract in December and promptly got knocked out in an A-Team game. That kept him out of action until the European Challenge Cup campaign, which he had arrived too late to be registered for, had started.
With players away on Scotland duty - few of those even on the fringe of the squad seem to have been released back to their clubs for this weekend's action - Solomons had to make changes from the side that beat Bordeaux last month to secure their place in the European quarter finals. He has wasted no time in giving first starts to both the New Zealand trialists, Blake in his specialist role at openside flanker and Jade Te Rure at fly half.
Blake is still a bit of an unknown quantity even to his new teammates. After all he had barely arrived before he was under the care of the medical staff, and then he was away with the Scotland squad before being allowed back for tonight's crucial game against the Ospreys, the league leaders.
""He is an exciting young talent. He looks good over the ball, he looks fit and it will be quite exciting having him and Roddy Grant in the same back row, there are a couple of big engines there," said Mike Coman, the captain. "He seems to be buying into what we are doing, into our style of play and structures. I am really excited to be playing alongside him and see how he goes and I know he is excited to be finally getting a chance to play for Edinburgh.
"He is keen to impress and when that is the case you want to go in and, not so much do your own thing but back your own ability and instincts. A lot of his focus is on what we are doing but overall I am really excited to play alongside him and see how he goes and I know that he is also pretty excited to be finally getting a chance.
"He definitely has some raw ability. He is young and has some things to learn but in regards to being a different type of athlete, as they say he is - yes, he probably is. He offers things a little different to other sevens, he has ability, sure."
The match, which has been moved to Myreside because BT Murrayfield is being prepared for the Wales game on Sunday, is vital for Edinburgh not just for league points but to get revenge for the embarrassment of the 62-13 stuffing in the reverse fixture earlier this season.
Edinburgh: J Cuthbert; D Hoyland, S Beard, P Burleigh, T Brown; J Te Rure, G Hart, R Sutherland, N Cochrane, W Nel, A Bresler, O Atkins, R Grant, H Blake, M Coman. Replacements: S McInally, G Shiells, J Andress, F McKenzie, T Leonardi, A Glashan, T Heathcote, A Strauss.
Ospreys: D Evans; T Grabham, A Beck, J Matavesi, R Fussell; S Davies, M Roberts; M Thomas, S Otten, D Arhip, T Cavubati, R Thornton, J Bearman, S Lewis, T Ardron (C). Replacements: M Dwyer, D Jones, D Suter, J King, I Jones, D Baker, T Habberfield, J Spratt.
Referee: G Conway (Ireland)
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