It is only the second game of the season this weekend and already Edinburgh are facing their first injury crisis of the campaign. Andy Robinson, the head coach, has been forced to draft in an 18-year-old flanker to cover a host of back-row injuries, and he will take a 24-man squad to Dublin for tomorrow night’s Magners League match, with the starting XV not being finalised until after training this afternoon.

However, there was some good news for Robinson, with Jim Hamilton, the Scotland lock signed from Leicester in the summer, ready to resume contact training after surgery on his shoulder. Under the draft system for allocating professional players to clubs, he was allocated to Watsonians and he might get a run out when they visit Ayr on Saturday.

The biggest problem for Edinburgh is that with so few players to choose from, Robinson has had to wrap up those who are fit in cotton wool, heavily restricting how aggressive they can be in training. “We didn’t want people like big Jim [Hamilton] knocking our players around,” he said.

The problems are particularly severe in the back row, with Ross Rennie, Alan MacDonald, Simon Cross, Fraser McKenzie and David Callam all unavailable. The main beneficiary is Chris Fusaro, the flanker, who makes the squad to play Leinster. Even though he is still in the national academy and not even a contracted professional, he has clearly impressed Robinson.

“Chris has a real tough edge about him,” the coach said. “He has been training with us and I like his toughness and his feel for the ball. He’s got an early opportunity and it will be good experience for him to come to Dublin and see how we prepare.”

Though Fusaro has plenty of experience with the Scotland sevens team and a Scottish Cup final appearance with Heriot’s, this will be the first time he has been involved with the match-day squad in a professional XV environment, though the probability is that he will be on the bench with Matt Mustchin, Ally Hogg and Scott Newlands in the starting lineup.

It is only a little better behind the scrum with injuries to Ben Cairns (knee), John Houston (pelvis), Matt Dey (shoulder) and Andrew Easson (concussion), meaning that Nick De Luca and Calum MacRae are the only specialist centres fit to play.

Given all that, it is not surprising that Robinson is leaving it as late as he can to pick the squad, though he admitted yesterday that he was also anxious to keep Leinster guessing as long as possible.

“There are a couple of knocks and we want to make sure about those,” he said. “It is also making sure there’s competition for places as well, keeping guys on their toes, and also about not showing our hand to Leinster. People laugh about the squad size I keep demanding, but look at the injury list. That’s the nature of the game.”