NEWPORT have been through the mill off the field with some critics marking them down as a spent force.

But that is not the way that the club themselves feel although the agony of a massive thrashing by crack French outfit Toulouse last week has been something they have had to overcome.

The Black and Ambers tackle Edinburgh at Rodney Parade tomorrow in their final Heineken Cup match of the season.

And, if the Welsh Rugby Union's plans for provincial rugby go ahead and Newport merge with Ebbw Vale, it will signal the club's swansong in Europe's number one competition.

Newport need to restore some self-respect after the French farce last weekend and captain Simon Raiwalui said that everyone in the camp realised the priority of getting a result against the Scotsmen so that it sets them up for the Welsh League and the Principality Cup this season.

The big Fijian lock said: "We are obviously sad we could not go any further but when one chapter ends, another begins.

"We have two things we are left in - the cup and the Welsh League. Newport Rugby is far from dead. It would be wrong for people to write us off in one fell swoop."

Raiwalui admitted that it has been tough for everyone at the club since the Toulouse massacre.

He added: "It was very difficult in the week but the boys have stressed that we are all in this together.

"The whole team and the whole management have been good this week. We have shown a lot of character to stick together as we have.

"As far as training goes, I can only say that the boys have given it 110 per cent. But we are under no illusions how good Edinburgh are.

"They beat London Irish and we struggled against that side. They are a good team but it's more about us at the moment.

"We have got to get ourselves right and we cannot look too much at other people or teams.

"If we can come right, we can do something but there are no fingers being pointed at anyone."

Raiwalui packs down with Welsh international Ian Gough in the Newport boilerhouse tomorrow but is up against a side which is likely to include former New Zealand captain and flanker Todd Blackadder.

And among the other big guns that Newport will be bidding to topple from up north, Edinburgh could include flanker Simon Taylor, the British Lion who had to return home from Australia last year after his first appearance, plus another powerful back row man in Scottish international Martin Leslie.