Gloucester boss George Skivington admitted to being caught off-guard by Edinburgh’s display against Benetton and knows his side are in for a tough encounter on Friday night.
Skivington, whose side warmed up for the start of their European campaign by beating Premiership champions Northampton, was shocked by a blistering five-try first half from Edinburgh as they raced into a 35-0 lead against Benetton, before hanging on to win 50-33 after a poor second half.
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Skivington, who is director of rugby at Kingsholm, said: “We've watched their games and they're doing fundamentals pretty well, then obviously on the weekend they scored a lot of tries and are pulling out all sorts of stuff.
"All our analysis, we're looking at it again saying ‘have we analysed the same team here?’”
But Skivington has a good idea of what to expect from Edinburgh, having guided the Cherry and Whites to a win at Hive Stadium in January. The sides also met in a pre-season match, which Edinburgh won.
Skivington added: "We know each other relatively well. I like watching Edinburgh play.
“I think they've got a good balance of their game and their set-piece is always good.”
Edinburgh have suggested several of their Scotland stars could get a rest this weekend, but it will be a case of seeing is believing for the Gloucester supremo.
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“I never like trying to predict who's going to rest who,” he said.
“I think one thing Edinburgh seem to have from the outside is a pretty good depth in their squad. There seem to be a lot of players there compared to a Premiership team. I'm sure whoever comes down will be good and all the rest of it.”
And Skivington wants his team to focus on backing up a big result against Northampton – a fixture they lost 90-0 last season – with another good showing on Friday.
“Against Northampton, we showed good character on both sides of the ball but we haven't done that consistently through the Premiership and we're aiming to do that.
“Still driving our game is the most important part.” While Edinburgh plan to make changes, the home side will be without a couple of their star men.
Number eight Zach Mercer, who represented Scotland at age-grade level but has senior England caps, and wing Ollie Thorley both limped out of the weekend win.
“I don't think they're going to be pretty,” he said when asked for an injury update.
“I think those two are potentially longer-term injuries, which is very upsetting because both of them have been in really good form for us, and I actually thought that was probably Zach's best game, certainly this season, if not up there as one of the best games he's had for the club.
"It's a little bit nerve-wracking time until we know exactly where we stand with those two.”
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