BEWARE Fijian flair. That will be one message from Mike Blair to his Edinburgh squad before they play Castres in the Champions Cup on Saturday, with special reference to the French club’s former Glasgow lock Leone Nakarawa and his compatriot centre Vilimoni Botitu.

Perhaps more fundamentally, though, Blair will warn his players that they are coming up against a side who may not be full of world-renowned names, but who work hard for each other and can be expected to put in a consistently high level of performance.

“They’re a really competitive team,” the capital club’s head coach said yesterday. “They’re not a team of stars, but they got to the Top 14 final last year.

“They play really well, cohesively, as a unit. Their defence is excellent. And they’ve got a little bit of stardust in there – a couple of Fijian players and a couple of other players with real X Factor. There is Botitu, and Nakarawa who we obviously know really well, and they do have that stardust amongst them.

“But I would say it’s probably less about their individuals, and more about their cohesive group that they have got. They seem to have a real desire to work for each other, so they’re going to be a really difficult team this week.”

Castres lost at home to Exeter Chiefs at the weekend, while Edinburgh were beaten at Saracens in their opening Pool A game. The competition’s convoluted format means that a team could lose their first two games and still qualify for the knockout stages, but Blair prefers to waste no time pondering such permutations.

“It’s a complicated system, but it just means that your job is a little bit easier. Win as many games as you can, and don’t worry too much about the difference in the match points.”

If the cold weather persists, the match could be moved from the DAM Health Stadium to BT Murrayfield – a switch that holds no fears for Blair.

“I’m conscious that before we played Glasgow last time a few of our players said it was a shame that we were not playing at the DAM Health.

“But then as soon as we ran out on the pitch at BT Murrayfield you could feel a real buzz amongst the supporters and the players as well. So if the game is moved for that reason, I expect us to rise to the occasion.”