How Glasgow Warriors can inspire Edinburgh Rugby as Andy Goode Leinster claims addressed

It is the capital club’s last chance to salvage something from a dismal season and Everitt admitted they had nothing to lose in the Investec Champions Cup last-16 tie.

Back-to-back defeats in South Africa have effectively ended any hope Edinburgh had of making the play-offs in the United Rugby Championship and they now face a daunting trip to the Aviva Stadium, a venue at which no Scottish team has won.

Edinburgh lost there 28-20 in January but Glasgow got the better of Leinster in the URC earlier this month, although that was at Scotstoun and the Irish side were missing many of their internationals. The Ireland contingent are likely to be back this weekend for the four-time Champions Cup winners.

Set-piece strength

“We know Leinster are a good team and we saw how Glasgow got on top of them,” said Everitt. “Obviously it will be a different team that will be available this weekend to what played against Glasgow, but at the end of the day their systems are the same. And we know they've got depth in their squad.

“I thought we did well against them for most part of the game at Aviva the last time we played them. But like I said, it's a different team that we're playing. They'll have their internationals back, where they were missing several when we played them the last time.”

Everitt will look to Edinburgh’s set-piece strength and hope to knock Leinster off their stride.

“Obviously you want to disrupt their rhythm,” he said. “Because they're a team that rely on the attack to score tries and we know that set-piece is a big part of that and it’s an area where we can match them, or for that matter, dominate. So yes, we'll have an opportunity.”

A big statement

“We've got nothing to lose,” Everitt added. “We know that Europe does determine whether Leinster have a successful season or not so we know that the pressure is on them to perform. At the same time we are alive in a competition and dead in another one so we've got everything to play for too.”

Andy Goode, the former England fly-half-turned-pundit, said at the weekend that a win for Edinburgh would be the biggest Champions Cup upset in the competition’s history but Everitt didn’t seem convinced.

“We could use that as motivation but that's quite a big statement because there have been quite a few upsets,” said the Edinburgh coach. “I think we caused one earlier in December when we beat Toulon at home. So I suppose it would be, seeing where Leinster are in Europe and how many titles they've won. But like I say, when you're in knockouts, it's anyone's game and it becomes a 50-50.”

Edinburgh will be without their captain, Magnus Bradbury, who injured his ankle in the 33-14 loss to the Stormers in Cape Town last Saturday. The performance was better than the previous week when Edinburgh lost 54-17 to the Lions in Johannesburg but it was another defeat, their 10th in 14 URC games this season, leaving them with only Europe to play for.

“There is a hunger within this group,” insisted Everitt. “And I think you saw it for 62 minutes. And it's not that we rolled over and died against the Stormers. So a big improvement. The hunger was there on Saturday. Maybe the accuracy was lacking again and it’s going to have to be spot on on Sunday.”