Neither Stevie Scott nor Duncan Hodge seemed inclined yesterday to dispel the impression they are effectively embarking on a five-week interview for the main coaches positions at Edinburgh.

The posts became vacant after the Michael Bradley-led regime, which gave Scottish rugby its first taste of Heineken Cup semi-final action, completely unravelled.

Billy McGinty, coach of a woefully porous defence, departed on the day it was announced that Bradley's contract would not be renewed at season's end. The Irish head coach duly left a few weeks later along with Neil Back, the forwards coach, who had completed less than a year of his two-year contract.

With the team having won just four matches this season, what confronts Scott and Hodge as they shift desks at Murrayfield – they worked with Scotland until last weekend – looks something of a mess as they prepare for an opening match against long-time RaboDirect Pro12 leaders and Heineken Cup quarter-finalists Ulster.

As for players, however, opportunities for coaches are most often presented by the misfortune of others, so their task is to draw a line under the travails of this season and give the organisation a much-needed lift.

"The target is the first game and getting a performance first," was Scott's opening gambit. "That's the only thing that Duncan and I can build on. I've been very impressed with the boys' attitude. They've trained really, really well as we build towards Friday's game against a very good Ulster team.

"We've identified four or five areas we're going to concentrate on for the next five games and these areas are important, we feel, for this team to move forward. They are fundamentals so there's no point in moving away somewhere else until we get these parts right."

Diplomacy was called into action when they were asked what may happen beyond this season.

"It's just been talked about that we've come in to do a job for these five games," said Hodge. "There will be discussions behind that but we've only got five games . . . we've only got three training sessions this week and possibly two next week and we've got to limit the information we're trying to get across. We want to change certain things, but there's no point in giving them too much information if the players can't retain it. It's quite a careful balancing act for us as coaches just now."

With slightly more experience of professional rugby at first-team level, Scott seems to be taking the lead in terms of who will effectively be acting head coach, but both were vague when asked about pecking orders, presenting themselves as a partnership.

They know they have a great chance to take their careers to a different level.

"The reason I left my position with the Union was to pursue a job as forwards coach," said Scott. "That's why I went to Sale Sharks for 22 months. I've been in that Premiership environment and I know what it's like and the pressure on results which is massive in the Premiership with the play-offs, the Heineken Cup top six and relegation. So I know what it takes and what we need to do to win games. I came back from Sale as a better coach. I was lucky to be involved with Scotland with four good coaches in Dean [Ryan], Johnno [Scott Johnson], Matt [Taylor] and Hodgey, so I feel I've come on a lot."

Hodge readily concurred. "I'm no different," he said. "I've been a specialist coach, kicking wise, here but I've coached backs and attack all my life and I've been helping with the attack with Scotland. So it's great for me and it's what I'm used to."

While neither is coming directly from the club game, both are homegrown products who have taken slightly different routes in developing as coaches, both having worked on either side of the Border in different roles, while Hodge did have a spell in the club game working with Watsonians.

They agreed it would be difficult to the point of impossible to combine these roles with continued involvement with the national team management which may also be a complicating factor since, with Dean Ryan apparently determined to stick to his position that he was there for one campaign only, that will mean further upheaval in the national set-up.

That situation must surely have been taken into account when the decision was made to give the pair this chance and Scott was emphatic when asked if he wanted to be involved with Edinburgh rather than Scotland next year. "The answer to that for me is yes," he said.

The appalling nature of Edinburgh's run means they have the chance to make their point in spectacular fashion. Rarely in professional sport can a management team have come in with just a few weeks of the season left and stand a chance of surpassing the haul of wins achieved by those they are replacing.

Yet, with five games to play, Scott and Hodge can do that and, for all that Friday's opener against Ulster is a tough one, it is one of three home matches, with the other two against clubs in the bottom half of the Pro12 table.

Edinburgh's run-in Ulster (h), Zebre (a), Connacht (h), Treviso (a), Dragons (h)