A chance to blood a few players or a day for throwing lambs to the slaughter? Richard Cockerill, the Edinburgh head coach, was adamant that his selection strategy for this evening’s clash with Leinster in Dublin falls into the former category, but his decision to put a second-string side out against the Guinness Pro14 and European champions would lead a cynic to suspect that he sees it as a game that cannot be won.
Cockerill had tinkered little with his starting line-up over the first three games of the league season, but he has taken a slash-and-burn approach ahead of the fourth, with nine changes in all. In fairness, it would be hard to dismiss the Edinburgh pack as nothing more than dirt trackers when