<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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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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