Edinburgh will travel to South Africa without Argentina fullback Emiliano Boffelli after he suffered a recurrence of the back injury that kept him out for much of the end of last season. 

Boffelli had been named on the bench for the season opener against Leinster on Friday but pulled out of the side prior to kick-off.  

The 29-year-old was limited to seven Edinburgh appearances last season as a result of the problem and underwent a “procedure” towards the end of the season.  

Head coach Sean Everitt admitted it is a concern, not just for Boffelli’s on-field influence on his squad.  

“I think for me it's more of a worry about the individual,” the Edinburgh boss mused following his side’s 33-31 defeat to Leinster.  

“The individual comes first at Edinburgh so we just hope that it's not too serious and that he gets over this issue that he's been struggling with for some time now. It hasn't only been the last 12 months, it's been probably over the last 24 months. 

“He’ll be seeing the experts next week and then we'll take it from there. He’s definitely a no for South Africa.” 

Centre Matt Currie, who limped off with a hamstring injury early in Friday’s defeat, is included as Edinburgh take on the Bulls and Lions over the next two weekends.  

Edinburgh will travel to South Africa looking to emulate the achievements of Glasgow Warriors by beating the Bulls at their Loftus Versfeld home next weekend.  

“Success on that trip will be beating the Bulls at Loftus and beating the Lions at Ellis Park and we set ourselves those goals,” Everitt continued.  

“We want to achieve high and for us to be able to finish where we want to finish, those are the teams we've got to beat.  

“We learned from our trip to South Africa last year that it cost us dearly. We came home from both games with no points.” 

But the Edinburgh head coach is taking confidence from the fact his side did not finish empty-handed against Leinster. They finished with two bonus points – something they were criticised heavily for not accumulating more of last term – through scoring four tries and finishing within seven of the Irish side. 

“Last year we played against Leinster and everyone called Leinster a B team at that stage. We got no points out of it. This time we got two and if we can bring home eight [from SA] that would be fantastic for us.” 

Edinburgh squad for trip to South Africa 

Forwards: Pierre Schoeman, Boan Venter, Paul Hill, D’arcy Rae, Javan Sebastian, Dave Cherry, Ewan Ashman, Paddy Harrison, Grant Gilchrist, Marshall Sykes, Jamie Hodgson, Jamie Ritchie, Ben Muncaster, Tom Dodd, Magnus Bradbury, Hamish Watson 

Backs: Ben Vellacott, Ali Price, Charlie Shiel, Ross Thompson, Ben Healy, Matt Scott, Matt Currie, Mark Bennett, Mosese Tuipulotu, Ross McCann, Darcy Graham, Duhan van der Merwe, Wes Goosen