THE boys will be relaxing in Edinburgh after a light week of training due to a quick turnaround, counting down the hours to a massive game at Murrayfield and hopefully they will come flying out of the blocks.

We are on a roll going into tonight’s European Rugby Challenge Cup semi-final and we haven’t necessarily won pretty in the last four games but we have won and creating that habit is something to be reckoned with.

We head there on the back of a great 25-22 win against Leinster while Edinburgh had a 34-3 pumping at home to Munster.

Playing a side after a result like that is dangerous. Their confidence might have been knocked but they could also be a wounded animal ready to come out fighting.

We have changed some perceptions this year, especially with our away form massively improving with wins against Cardiff, Leinster and Treviso, and hopefully that will continue at Murrayfield.

The boys will be determined to make a better start this evening because although we’ve enjoyed good comeback wins in recent weeks we don’t want to be playing catch-up again.

Obviously no one goes out with the intention of starting sluggishly but some teams do start with a bang while others take a little while to grow into the game.

It’s imperative that we don’t give Edinburgh a head start because I know from past experience that they are a dangerous team if you allow them to get into the swing of things.

We know that they have a formidable scrum and have caused us problems in the past so we need to address that and it will be a big evening for the front row of Brok Harris, who has moved across to loosehead, Rhys Thomas and Dan Way.

If we can provide good lineout ball, and Cory Hill has been calling the shots in recent weeks and doing a good job in Rynard Landman’s absence, then that could be a good area for us to cause some damage. As I’ve written in previous weeks, our driving lineout has caused teams some problems but it can also help to open up space a bit for the backs.

There is some great competition for places at the moment, especially in the back row.

Nick Crosswell has been playing well, Nic Cudd rested a neck injury a few weeks ago but has come back and put in some massive defensive performances, everyone knows about Toby Faletau while James Benjamin came on against Leinster and had a big impact, scoring two tries.

Selection headaches are exactly what the coaches want and to keep progressing as a squad and to be in contention to win things then you need players to be fighting week in, week out for the jersey. That’s something that we have got at the moment across the team.

Unlike Rynard I won’t be heading up to Scotland on the fleet of supporters’ coaches as I’ve got an operation on my wrist Monday to get the pin out of my wrist.

I need to make sure I am in the best shape for that and my intense rehab is looming so I’m not sure the long trip and pub discounts would be wise!

But hopefully the fans that are heading up will be toasting a win and I will be able to head to the Twickenham Stoop on May 1.