Edinburgh’s focus hasn’t wavered through a difficult two weeks and head coach Richard Cockerill doesn’t expect any change in Treviso as the club go for a fourth win in a row.
The suspensions of John Hardie and erstwhile club captain Magnus Bradbury have taken most of the off-field attention but the team has had three good performances and Cockerill believes the team are keeping their attention on the field.
“The lads are under the spotlight a bit after the last couple of weeks,” he admitted. “They’re working hard and we can only deal with what we’re doing on the field and if we can get positive results, that portrays a positive environment.
“The boys have just got on with their jobs as they do, we’ve just got to move on. We dealt with Magnus and in due course the situation with John will be sorted out as well, and we’ll just get on with it.”
Treviso stunned Edinburgh at Myreside a month ago and have probably played even better since then, pushing Toulon all the way in the Champions Cup last week.
“We have it all to do there,” said Cockerill. “We’ve got to go and make sure we play with the same intent and the same accuracy we’ve managed to do for the last couple of weeks.
“We obviously take confidence from that but physically we’ll need to be very good which we have been last week. They’ve had a couple of very good performances if not the results they’d have liked.”
One boost is that Jason Tovey, stretchered off last week in Moscow, has made a “miraculous” recovery and will start with Phil Burleigh alongside him in midfield.
“Jason hyper extended his knee and he thought it was serious at the time, but he’s trained yesterday and today which I was a little bit surprised about, he pushed through the pain barrier and seems to have come through very well,” said Cockerill.
Duncan Weir isn’t due back until the South Africa trip during the November test window, while Jamie Ritchie (foot) and Ross Ford (calf) aren’t quite ready to return.
Also the load deal with Leicester for Italian international Michele Rizzo is continuing on an open-ended basis after he completed the initial agreement period.
“We’re hoping to keep Micky for the foreseeable future,” continued Cockerill. “With (Allan) Dell being away and injured, (Alastair) Dickinson out and (Rory) Sutherland coming back, we need that cover, especially as as Darryl Marfo may well be away with the national team as well.
“Mickey Rizzo is going to be important for us if we can manage to keep that loan deal going as long as Leicester don’t need him.”
Edinburgh (vs Benetton Rugby, Guinness PRO14 Treviso, today 3pm) Blair Kinghorn; Dougie Fife, James Johnstone, Phil Burleigh, Jason Harries; Jason Tovey, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne; Darryl Marfo, Stuart McInally, WP Nel; Fraser McKenzie (capt), Ben Toolis; Luke Crosbie, Hamish Watson, Cornell du Preez. Replacements: Neil Cochrane, Michele Rizzo, Murray McCallum, Grant Gilchrist, Lewis Carmichael, Nathan Fowles, Glenn Bryce, Chris Dean.