WE WON’T BE A SURPRISE THIS SEASON
GRANT GILCHRIST has warned his Edinburgh team-mates they can no longer be regarded as Pro14 surprise packages.
Last season the Gunners mounted a major recovery from years in the doldrums.
But ahead of kicking off a new campaign at Ospreys tomorrow, Scotland lock Gilchrist insists the opposition will be more savvy this time round.
He said: “Last season was great for us, reaching the play-off stages, but we need to understand the challenge will be much bigger over the next nine months. We’ve taken a lot of teams by surprise but they now know exactly what we are about.
“It means we’ll have to up our game considerably just to stay where we are.
“Obviously we want to kick on further but we know the size of task that will entail.”
It’s a tough start down in Swansea and Gilchrist added: “Ospreys have a strong squad with Welsh internationals throughout.
“But we certainly relish he challenge and we just want to get going. Training has been good and the guys are itching to get into the real stuff.
“Ospreys have always been one of the stronger Welsh provincial teams.
“We’ve fared pretty well against them at home but the reverse has been true when we’ve travelled.
“The ball is in our court to change that trend.”
Gilchrist says he is ready to hit the ground running despite not figuring in either of the pre-season games against Bath and Newcastle. He said: “Because I was on the Scotland tour of Canada, USA and Argentina I was late in starting back training with the club. But I’m feeling good.
“It will be the most competitive Edinburgh squad I’ve been involved with and there will be lot of quality players who won’t be playing on any given day.
“That stands us in good stead because competition drives performance.
“I know coach Richard Cockerill will be picking guys who are on the best form regardless of who they are or what they’ve done in the past.”
Cockerill has told his players they need to work even harder to maintain their status as Pro14 playoff contenders.
He said: “There are no guarantees. It’s sport, things happen. We’ve just got to keep working hard.
“We have a good balanced squad and we have to work harder to stay in the same spot.
“We’re going to try to win every time we play. Where that takes us I don’t know.
“We haven’t got enough history of being successful to start saying we should be in the play-offs or in Europe again.
“We have to prove it all again and build solid foundations and a solid structure so we can be a Scarlets or a Glasgow or a Connacht that have gone on to win the competition.”