Autumn Tests gave Ritchie his reward

There must surely have been a renewed confidence to Jamie ritchie when he returned to training with edinburgh earlier this week.

For all that Scotland had a fairly mixed bag of results in the autumn internationals, ritchie was undoubtedly one of the major success stories on a personal level.

he excelled against both Wales and Fiji, scoring a try against the South Sea islanders, then was unfortunate to be dropped to the bench for the game with South Africa before returning in the final outing against Argentina.

Not bad for someone of just 22 years of age and who only made his debut for his country in the summer tour earlier this year.

Now comes the resumption of club duties after a six-week break with the national team and, ahead of Friday night’s heineken Champions Cup clash with Newcastle Falcons at Murrayfield, ritchie feels like he is perhaps playing the best rugby of his career.

‘You try to peak all the time, and play your best all the time, but this period off the back of playing well in the autumn is up there,’ he said.

‘It was really good (with Scotland). It was a whirlwind experience for me being involved in every game and playing my first game at Murrayfield in front of a sell-out crowd.

‘But it was also nice to get away from rugby for a while, relax and spend time with my kids, who haven’t seen much of me in the last six weeks.’

The game against Newcastle signals the start of a defining period for edinburgh.

Back-to-back fixtures against the english side are followed by a Pro14 double-header with rivals Glasgow Warriors, before they finish their Champions Cup group stage next month against Toulon and Montpellier.

huge underdogs at the start of the campaign, edinburgh will feel they have every chance of progressing after a bonus-point thrashing of Toulon in their last outing.

They currently sit second in Pool 5 on six points, ahead of both French clubs but two points behind a Newcastle side who have won their two opening games.

‘We are sitting in a good spot in europe,’ added ritchie. ‘It is exciting with two back-to-back sets of matches — you have Newcastle back to back and then look ahead to Glasgow.’

ritchie is likely to encounter a few familiar faces against Newcastle. The Falcons have Scotland centre Chris harris among their ranks, along with Gary Graham, a new back-row colleague of ritchie’s with the national team after he pledged his allegiance to the Saltire following flirtations with england.

One player ritchie won’t be going up against, though, is former edinburgh flanker John hardie, after Newcastle opted not to register him in their squad for the match, despite his good form over the past few weeks in the Premiership.