<table class="contentpaneopen"><tbody><tr><td class="contentheading" width="100%">EDINBURGH SEEK TO FLOWER AGAIN IN GARDENS </td> <td class="buttonheading" align="right" width="100%">
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</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="contentpaneopen"><tbody><tr> <td colspan="2" class="createdate" valign="top"> Wednesday, 12 January 2011 </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top">
Edinburgh's bid for a strong finish to their Heineken Cup pool campaign begins with a trip to a ground where they recorded one of the best results in the club's history the last time they visited.
Rob Moffat's men head to Franklin's Gardens on Friday night (kick-off 8pm) to take on Northampton Saints in a re-enactment of the October 2000 encounter that saw them win 23-22 against an outfit who were reigning European champions.
The Edinburgh side that will run out this time around shows one survivor, Chris Paterson, from the original clash. Overall, the starting line-up bears six changes from that which began the 21-16 Magners League loss to Scarlets at Murrayfield last Saturday.
In the backs, Jim Thompson replaces Lee Jones on the wing, while Ben Cairns comes in for John Houston and will form a centre partnership with Nick De Luca for the first time since the trip to Leinster in May 2010.
In the pack, meanwhile, Kyle Traynor gets a start at loose-head prop, Esteban Lozada replaces Fraser McKenzie at lock and Roddy Grant comes in at No.8 and will captain the team. Fellow back-row player Netani Talei is suffering from a virus and misses out this week. Ross Rennie comes in for Stuart McInally, with Alan MacDonald moving to blindside.
Head coach Moffat today challenged his charges to repeat the level of attacking ambition they showed in the narrow 31-28 defeat in the first meeting between the teams at Murrayfield last October, a match Edinburgh graced with three outstanding tries.
He said: "We played well in a lot of areas last time out against Northampton, and with a little bit more composure at crucial times, could certainly have won the game.
"Franklin's Gardens is known throughout Europe as one of the toughest away grounds to go and get a positive result, but we've named a side that we feel is more than capable of rising to the challenge.
"The guys have already shown that they can live with a team with the sort of quality Northampton have, and we'll be asking them to really front up again and make sure we do ourselves justice.
"When you go to a place like Northampton, it's always nice to look back through the history books and see you've won there before, but that game [in season 2000/2001] was a long time ago and I'm sure that everyone in this team wants to register an achievement of their own.
"What the last few weeks have underlined is that we need our set-piece to be more consistent if we're to fully exploit the potential we have in attack. That's the message we've been hammering home all week: do the basics well and give ourselves the platform to push on and win the game.
"We've still got a lot to play for in this competition, and we know that a couple of wins in these two games [Edinburgh face Cardiff Blues at Murrayfield next Saturday in their final Pool 1 fixture] would give us a chance of more European rugby in the second half of the season.
"Friday will be one of the biggest tests we'll face in the entire campaign, but it's the sort of game that everyone relishes being involved in and we'll travel in positive mood."
A decision has yet to be made on who will occupy the final front row berth on the Edinburgh replacements bench.
EDINBURGH TEAM TO PLAY NORTHAMPTON SAINTS IN HEINEKEN CUP POOL 1 AT FRANKLIN'S GARDENS ON FRIDAY 14 JANUARY (KICK-OFF 8PM, LIVE ON SKY SPORTS)
15 Chris Paterson
14 Jim Thompson
13 Ben Cairns
12 Nick De Luca
11 Tim Visser
10 David Blair
9 Mike Blair
1 Kyle Traynor
2 Ross Ford
3 Geoff Cross
4 Scott MacLeod
5 Esteban Lozada
6 Alan MacDonald
8 Roddy Grant (captain)
7 Ross Rennie
SUBSTITUTES
16 TBC
17 Lewis Niven
18 David Young
19 Craig Hamilton
20 Stuart McInally
21 Greig Laidlaw
22 James King
23 Simon Webster
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