David Callam admits he was delighted to have registered his first start for Edinburgh since September 2008, but says his elation was cut short by the Greaves Sports 1872 Cup loss at Glasgow and forecasts a spirited response from the team in time for the rematch at Murrayfield on Saturday (2 January, kick off 3.05pm, live on STV, for tickets please click here).
The 26-year-old last featured in the starting line-up in the opening match of last season, but after recovering from extensive surgery to repair a hip injury was handed the No8 jersey for the clash at Firhill.
But his comeback joy was short-lived after Glasgow dominated for long periods and secured a 25-12 win in front of a record Firhill crowd of over 8,800.
Now Callam says Edinburgh know what they have to do in order to make amends for their off-key showing in Maryhill and that supporters can expect to see a big response.
Callam said: “We knew what we had to do, but we just didn’t do it – that is the most disappointing thing. There is going to be a huge response this week. We need to get things right; especially on our home patch.
“The last few years we have been at home first, so this time around there is a change of scenery. They are coming to our house and we need to make sure we are fired up from the first kick off.
“In the first half, we hardly had any ball and there were a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes. There were guys getting turned over and lots of mistakes. We’ve got a bigger pitch to play on at the weekend and hopefully we can play a bit more rugby.
“It was a huge disappointment because of the way we performed and we will be doing everything we can to put it right on Saturday.”
After working tirelessly to return to full fitness, Callam says he is pleased with his progress, but feels there is still room for improvement.
He added: “I have worked a lot on my strength and conditioning over the last year. But I still feel there are things I can work on and improve on.
“Game-time will help me to get back into the swing of things. I was out for a long time, so the more you play the more confident you become.
“You start to get more familiar with all the systems. So I feel physically ready, but I feel that I need to improve upon my speed and agility and that will come with more game-time.”
In terms of mentally preparing for the challenge, Callam’s reintroduction was an eleventh hour act by head coach Rob Moffat after Alan MacDonald failed to overcome a rib injury.
He said: “I found out I was going to start just half-an-hour before we left to go to the ground. Alan had been struggling with his injury, so I was delighted to be able to be back playing again for Edinburgh. That is what I have trained for over the past 15 months.
“This is going to be a tough week. When you look at the game, it is basically the same game that has been played at Firhill over the past few seasons.
“We know exactly what they are going to do. They played well and they controlled the game far better than we did. There was a lot of talking before and during the game, but we didn’t produce the goods on the day and that is the most disappointing aspect.”
