The Blues travel to the Scottish capital in a rich vein of form having won their last seven games in all competitions. But they’ll be facing an Edinburgh side who have been revitalised under the expert tutelage of former Leicester Tigers head coach Richard Cockerill.
“I went up to the PRO14 launch in Dublin at the start of the season and ended up having breakfast with Richard Cockerill,” said the 37-year-old.
“He’s a guy who has put his stamp on their game and they’ve grown as a team under him. They’ve got a good backbone and they’ve got some quality players who are willing to work for the jersey.
“It is definitely the biggest challenge we’ve had this season. It’s about making sure we are spot on when it comes to kick off and we are ready to go and it doesn’t take us 20-30 minutes to get into the game.”
The capital city region have not won silverware since lifting the Amlin Challenge Cup in 2010 after a stunning victory against Toulon in the final. And the former British & Irish Lions star believes this is the strongest Blues side since they lifted the trophy in Marseille.
“It’s a long time ago since we won the competition out in France against Toulon,” he said.
“We’ve got a completely different squad but we’ve gone from strength to strength this season and it’s good to see the blend of youth and experience we have got coming through.
“It’s a big game for everyone at the club. We feel like we dominated our pool this season and put some good performances in. It’s a massive game for us to build on the form that we’ve had. It’s a one off occasion and we hope everyone is switched on and we can put in a good performance.”
