STEVE SCOTT, the Edinburgh Rugby assistant coach, does not believe fatigue will be a problem on Friday night when the capital side play Bordeaux-Begles in their crucial European Rugby Challenge Cup tie.
While Glasgow Warriors make a number of changes to their starting XV on a weekly basis, Edinburgh do not have the same strength in depth and after Saturday's loss in Lyon head coach Alan Solomons stated that he felt some of his players were physically and mentally drained.
Since December 27, they have played big matches against Glasgow (2), Connacht and Lyon while many of the players have not had a sustained rest period since the end of the Autumn Tests.
However, Scott feels the front line players will be able to raise their game once more for the encounter with Bordeaux at BT Murrayfield.
Edinburgh go into the match top of pool four, but Bordeaux are just a point behind and Lyon are a further two back with all three sides eying quarter-final spots.
Scott said: "The boys were off on Monday and they will have Wednesday off too, so they will be raring to go come Friday night.
"We will manage our key personnel carefully throughout the week and they may sit out some drills and drop their workload slightly. We will keep an eye on it.
"If you look at the Glasgow squad they have been together for a long time and have around 30 internationalists available to them. The depth in our squad is getting better, but we don't have that just yet.
"We are starting to get our big players back though and some of the younger guys have come in and done really well. We can make changes when required, but at the moment this team is still building and we need a settled side."
One thing all French clubs enjoy playing with is width and Scott feels his side cannot let Bordeaux settle into their game plan and that a quick start will be key in the match.
"We do not want an open game against them because that is what they will want and they will come here to play that way," he explained.
"In the game if we have a chance to kick for touch then we must find it because Bordeaux can attack from anywhere. They will try and take quick lineout throws and they will play a high tempo game.
"We have to continue the good work that our scrum put in against Lyon while we did well at stopping their maul and we will need to do the same against Bordeaux. We have standards in those areas and we have to maintain them and build on them to get a victory."
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