Moffat: We must win our home games

Published 18 Jul 2010 10:00 0 Comments

THE dates and kick-off times for Edinburgh's first four pool matches in this season's Heineken Cup have been confirmed.

Rob Moffat's side will start their campaign away to Magners League rivals Cardiff Blues on Saturday, October 9 (kick-off 5.45pm), and European action will return to Murrayfield seven days later with the visit of Aviva Premiership cracks Northampton Saints (Saturday, October 16, kick-off 1.30pm).

Hot on the heels of those two crunch fixtures comes the keenly-anticipated double-header against Castres. Edinburgh will travel to southern France on Saturday, December 11 (kick-off 6.45pm local time), before hosting the Top 14 outfit on Sunday, December 19 (kick-off 2pm). The last time the two clubs met, in the 2008 competition, Edinburgh emerged victorious from both games. The 13-6 win in the Stade Pierre Antoine was the club's first Heineken Cup success on French soil.

Head coach Rob Moffat, a former Borders PE teacher, welcomed Edinburgh's schedule and believes the team have every chance of progressing from their pool, provided they repeat last year's excellent home form (three wins from three) and begin to deliver again away from Murrayfield.

He said: "It's similar to last year, in that we're in a pool where the ball is in our court. Last season, we won our home games and lost two close away games. To win the pool, we'll have to win our home games again and pick up points on the road. We weren't as good away from home last year as we were the previous year, but we're definitely capable of picking up points.

"There aren't many grounds we've been to where we've not been really confident we can win the game. We've won at Castres, we've won at Cardiff, and I have every confidence we can go to Northampton and win there too. It's all there for us if we perform to the level we know we can. The most important thing is to get off to a good start. If we get a win in Cardiff, and our record is pretty good down there, it will really set us up for the Northampton game and for the rest of the tournament."

The precise dates and kick-off times for Edinburgh's last two pool games, away to Northampton (weekend of January 14/15/16, 2011) and home to Cardiff (weekend of January 21/22/23) will be confirmed at a later date.

As previously announced, Mike Blair, Allan Jacobsen, Chris Paterson, Greig Laidlaw, Steve Turnbull, Kyle Traynor, Nick De Luca, Jim Thompson, Ben Cairns, Geoff Cross and John Hounston have all agreed new contracts with Edinburgh this season.

And new recruits include James King, from Melrose, and Lee Jones, from Selkirk.

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