EDINBURGH RUGBY head coach Richard Cockerill admits he would love a Challenge Cup quarter-final tie against his old club, Leicester.


The Englishman has close ties with the side having played for them for twelve years over two stints and then managed them from 2015 until 2017.

Edinburgh have some work to do yet before they are guaranteed a spot in the last eight of the tournament but a win against Agen at Murrayfield today will ensure that Cockerill’s side are in the hat for the quarter-finals draw.

An away tie awaits Edinburgh if they do reach the knockout stages, and despite the fact that thr Challenge Cup is the second tier of European competition, their prospective opponents are daunting, to say the least.

Sides such as Toulon, Bordeaux and Bristol are also likely to be in the last eight but it is Leicester, who Cockerill has such close personal ties with, who hold the most appeal.

“I left Welford Road on new year’s day 2017 and I’ve not been back since,” he said.

“I was there a long time. I still keep in touch with Geordan Murphy, he’s a good friends. There’s lots of people there I know well so my association with Leicester is still very much alive and there’s lots of good people there I have a lot of time for.

“I’d love to go back as a former players and a former coach and go and test ourselves in one of the hardest places to go in the English game.”

However, before Cockerill and his men can contemplate the quarter-finals, they must ensure they defeat Agen this afternoon.

On paper, a win should be a formality. Agen are kangushing at the bottom of the group with no wins from five matches and with Edinburgh comfortably defeating them at Stade Armandie in November, the reverse fixture should not pose too many problems for the capital club.

Cockerill has named a weakened side, with nine changes to his starting fifteen, seven of which are in the pack. Pierre Schoeman, David Cherry and WP Nel are selected in the front-row, while Scotland locks Ben Toolis and Grant Gilchrist both return to action in the second-row.

Luke Crosbie and Nick Haining, both of whom were this week named in Scotland’s Six Nations squad, come in to join Hamish Watson in the back-row.

Also back in the starting line-up are fullback Damien Hoyland and centre George Taylor, who are the only alterations to the backline.

Cockerill may not have named his strongest squad but he is in no doubt as to what he expects from his players and he is adamant that the tag of favourites will not affect their mentality.

“We need to put in a good, workman-like, straightforward performance, get the result and hopefully look forward to the quarter-final,” he said.

“We know what we need to do. Agen are playing in a very tough league and they don’t lose their games by many.

“We’ve got a good side out, nine changes, seven in the forward pack and we’re still very strong so that shows what we’re trying to build. But we have to put it out on the field.

“We’ve got some very experienced players and we need to be able to cope with the favourites tag and deliver a performance that gets you the win, it’s as simple as that. "You’ve got to deal with that. It’s a different challenge to last week or to a Glasgow or a Scarlets or a Munster. When you’re expected to win, you need to play to the level you’re capable of and make sure you deliver on it.”

A number of Cockerill’s big hitters have been left on the sidelines, some with on-going injury issues while with others, it’s a case of erring on the side of caution with a big few months coming up.

“Stuart McInally has still got a sore rib from the Glasgow game, Marcus Bradbury is on test rest having played five games and Jamie Ritchie’s hamstring is not quite right - he could probably play but with test matches coming up I’m just not going to risk him,” he said.

“We’ve got some good strength in that back row so Jamie’s just being managed properly. And Bill Mata, who’s still recovering from quite a nasty cut on his face is unavailable as well.

"Matt Scott is rested, he got a little bit of a bang last week and we’re just looking after him. And obviously he’s got to go into a test camp and wants to compete for a spot.

“Blair Kinghorn is the same, he’s got a heavy workload ahead of him in the next eight, nine weeks I’d imagine.”

But despite the absence of these internationalists, Cockerill is looking forward to a number of other players taking their opportunity today as the Six Nations means the remainder of the squad will have to step up to the mark while their teammates are on international duty.

“Fraser McKenzie’s coming back from having a neck issue which is now completely solved, so it’s good to get him some game time,” said Cockerill.

“The same with Chris Dean, who’s getting back in the squad.

“We’re obviously going to be missing a lot of guys (during the Six Nations) so it’s a good opportunity to get some quality game time into them before we have a bit of a break and then we’re obviously into the Six Nations period when we have three very important games during that time.”