EDINBURGH are facing a prop crisis after the player they drafted in to solve their problems in that department was banned for four weeks. Michele Rizzo, an Italian international who had been on loan from Leicester may now have played his last match for Edinburgh, depending on the outcome of talks between the clubs.
Rizzo was sent off for charging into a ruck, his shoulder hitting Gareth Davies, the Scarlets scrum half on the head – a similar incident to the one at Scotstoun where Munster's Fineen Wycherley was red carded for a charge on Tim Swinson, the Glasgow Warriors lock.
Both players were given the same initial ban of six weeks but while Rizzo had only two taken off for mitigating circumstances, Wycherley got the maximum remission and will serve a week less.
The ban makes Rizzo's future uncertain. The initial loan was for six weeks, which would expire during the period he is sidelined, but Richard Cockerill, the Edinburgh head coach, has said he will be talking to Leicester about the possibility of extending the agreement, at least until Rory Sutherland, another of the three international looseheads currently injured, is back.
It is a particular problem for the club this week when they travel to Leinster with only Darryl Marfo and Murray McCallum available. Scotland prop Allan Dell is due to return from his back injury next week, which should lift some of the burden, though it will take him a week or two to play his way back to full fitness.
Matters are compounded by the fact the Irish province have announced that this is the week when their big-name internationalists will return to action.
Despite the size of the task coupled with the defeat at the Scarlets last week, the Edinburgh players are adamant they are going for a win.
"We have a lot more in us," insisted Nathan Fowles, the scrum-half locked in a battle for the starting role with Sam Hidalgo-Clyne. "It is an exciting prospect. We are only four games into the season and we are learning each week, working really hard off the pitch and on the pitch to get better as a team. As long as we put it out there week on week and keep getting better, that is all we can ask of each other. Then we will see where it gets us.
"It is nice to go away to Leinster and play against some of the best players in the world and to test ourselves but, at the same time, it is on us as well. We can’t use that to fuel our fire, we have got to have our own desire and get ourselves up for the game. That is really important, we have got to be there week on week."
The key, he says is not to let the physicality and concentration drop in the way they did against Benetton Treviso. If they can take on Leinster with the same commitment they showed against the Scarlets, keep 14 players on the pitch and get some breaks, who knows?
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