Edinburgh finish their Magners League season in Italy before embarking on a new era under new head coach Michael Bradley but outgoing chief Nick Scrivener has called for a huge effort to end on a high against Benetton Treviso.
The interim head coach has led the team to three wins in their final four matches, mostly without the team’s front-line international stars, and his last match in charge before returning to his native Australia is also the last for at least two of the squad and probably more.
Scott MacLeod is heading for Japan this summer, David Blair is quitting pro rugby and several players are likely to not be offered new deals with the new head coach coming in looking to stamp his own mark.
However, Scrivener wants no end-of-term jolly in north-east Italy and doesn’t want to see any sentiment until the final match is complete.
“I’ve no doubt there will be a bit of emotion floating about after the game, but our main concern will be making sure that we’ve at least got the satisfaction of reflecting on a win,” he said.
“We’ve underlined all along the importance of finishing the season in a positive manner, and with the last few wins we’ve gone some way to doing that.
“It’s now about finishing the job and doing something that we haven’t been particularly good at this season winning away from home.”
Scrivener makes three changes from the team that defeated Dragons last time out two weeks ago, with Mike Blair’s ankle injury this week allowing his younger brother to make his final bow at stand-off while Greig Laidlaw goes to scrum-half.
James King returns to the centre, and with Esteban Lozada suspended due to three yellow cards, Steven Turnbull hopes to finish an injury-hit season on a high in the second row.
Scrivener added, “We’ll need a huge effort from the pack because whenever Treviso are placed under duress, they go back to their main strength, which is certainly their set-piece.
“Ours was better against Dragons, but it will need to go up a notch again to give us the right sort of platform to play off.
“There are a good number of Edinburgh fans heading over to the game, so we want to give them a performance and result that makes the trip worthwhile.
“On a personal note, I’d like to thank all the players, management and supporters I’ve had the pleasure of working with in my time at Edinburgh. It’s been a hugely enjoyable couple of years and I look forward to following the club’s progress from afar.”
Edinburgh team vs Benetton Treviso (Stadio de Monigo, Friday KO 8.05pm): Chris Paterson; Simon Webster, Nick De Luca, James King, Tim Visser; David Blair, Greig Laidlaw; Kyle Traynor, Andrew Kelly (capt), Geoff Cross; Scott MacLeod, Steven Turnbull; Stuart McInally, Ross Rennie, David Denton. Replacements: Alun Walker, Lewis Niven, David Young, Craig Hamilton, Alan MacDonald, Jim Thompson, Lee Jones, Tom Brown.