The time has come for Edinburgh’s players to show that they are capable of competing with Europe’s elite by beating Leicester in their Murrayfield showdown against the English champions on Saturday. So says Andy Robinson, the Edinburgh coach, who believes that his side have developed so quickly they could be good enough to reverse the 39-0 hammering they received from the same opponents in the Heineken Cup in November.

“We are in control of whether we win or lose,” Robinson said. “The set-piece will be the key. It is a question of whether we get quality possession to launch some attacks. We respect Leicester, they are a great side, but we will show that respect by having a real go at them. I’m hearing noises from Leicester that they are looking to get four tries from the game and claim the bonus point. If that is the case, and with the way we want to play, it should be a cracking game.”

The big problem with the reverse fixture was that Edinburgh allowed themselves to be bullied in all the physical exchanges, but according to Robinson, his side have learnt a lot in the intervening weeks and he is much less worried about the issue.

“There is a big difference between a team that is playing well and a team that is playing well and also winning. Last time we had put in a good performance against Toulouse but ultimately lost. We were building something but got steamrollered. This will give a marker to where we are. Even though we are out of the tournament, the next two games are very important to where we are, in bench-marking the progress so far.

“It is tough for them to play away from home but we will focus on ourselves. If we can get the quality of ball and keep hold of it, then we will ask some questions. They won all the collisions last time so it is important that we dominate the breakdown.”

To achieve that, Robinson has had a minor shake-up of the side, with Hugo Southwell getting his first start at full-back since recovering from an ankle injury, and Ben Cairns demonstrating his versatility by switching to the wing. The rest of the backs remain the same as for the side that won away to Cardiff Blues last weekend, but in the forwards, Gavin Kerr has recovered from the bug that forced him out of the last game but David Callam, the No 8, has a minor shoulder problem and is rested, giving Roland Reid a start and Alan MacDonald a run from the bench, his first action since damaging his knee before the season started.

“He has had a few injuries, I have been told he is a quality player and he has been training hard and he is really pleased to be back involved but there is a lot of competition for places and it can be hard to win a spot in the team,” Robinson added.

- Scotland’s opening RBS Six Nations Championship game against France is almost certain to be a sell-out. The final batch of 7,500 tickets went on sale yesterday and by last night the Murrayfield ticket office was down to the last few hundred.

Edinburgh: H Southwell; B Cairns, N De Luca, J Houston, S Webster; P Godman, M Blair; A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Kerr, M Mustchin, B Gissing, R Reid, R Rennie, A Hogg (capt). Replacements: A Kelly, A Allori, C Hamilton, A MacDonald, B Meyer, D Blair, C MacRae.