Edinburgh Rugby aim to retain pole position in Heineken Cup Pool 2 tomorrow (Friday) when they take on French Top 14 side Racing Metro at the Stade Yves du Manoir (kick-off 8pm GMT).
With just two pool games left to play, the capital club share the top spot with RaboDirect PRO12 rivals, Cardiff Blues, who are level on points (13) but behind on try count (five to Edinburgh’s 11).
Six of Edinburgh Rugby’s try tally came from the reverse fixture with the Frenchmen at Murrayfield in a match which witnessed the greatest comeback in Heineken Cup history as the hosts rallied to a bonus-point win.
A touchline conversion from Edinburgh captain Greig Laidlaw with just three minutes remaining completed the 24-point turnaround (48-47).
Head coach Michael Bradley knows that another momentous performance will be needed to topple the Parisians at home and move one step closer to the quarter-finals of European Cup competition.
He said: “This is a huge game for Edinburgh Rugby. We need to start putting a bit of distance between ourselves and the teams that can qualify from this very close group.
“We scored six tries against them at Murrayfield but they played a game that really we couldn’t touch defensively so a lot of work has gone into that area to improve some key elements and hopefully they’ll ring true in couple of day’s time.
“We need to play in the right areas, keep the pace of the game up and not let Racing Metro get any sort of momentum.
“Edinburgh Rugby’s ability to play a high tempo game is going to be a key factor in this match.”
The return of Scotland and British Lions scrum-half Mike Blair instigates a half-back shuffle, as captain Greig Laidlaw returns to stand-off and Phil Godman drops to the bench.
The changes to the backs are completed by the inclusion of winger Lee Jones and centre Matt Scott who replace Tom Brown (bench) and James King, who has failed to recover from the groin injury that forced him off in Friday’s match against Ulster.
In the second-row Grant Gilchrist partners Sean Cox at the expense of Esteban Lozada, who moves to the bench, while Ross Rennie and David Denton start in the back-row in place of Roddy Grant and Stuart McInally.
Edinburgh Rugby team to play Racing Metro at the Stade Yves du Manoir, Paris in round 5 of the Heineken Cup on Friday 13 January (kick-off 8pm GMT). Live on Sky Sports red button and BBC Radio Scotland (MW and online)
15 Chris Paterson
14 Lee Jones
13 Nick De Luca
12 Matt Scott
11 Tim Visser
10 Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN
9 Mike Blair
1 Allan Jacobsen
2 Ross Ford
3 Geoff Cross
4 Grant Gilchrist
5 Sean Cox
6 David Denton
7 Ross Rennie
8 Netani Talei
Substitutes
16 Alun Walker
17 Kyle Traynor
18 Jack Gilding
19 Esteban Lozada
20 Roddy Grant
21 Phil Godman
22 Tom Brown
23 Jim Thompson
Not available through injury: James King (groin), Steven Lawrie (knee), Steven Turnbull (ankle), Ben Cairns (knee)
