Edinburgh must stop making excuses, says Dickinson

EDINBURGH star Alasdair Dickinson insists there can be no excuses for a fourth ‘unacceptable’ Pro12 league campaign under head coach Alan Solomons.

The Scotland international made clear that the club was under-performing and should be finishing far higher than eighth, which they did in Solomons’ first two years in charge, then a lowly ninth last season.

Being in the bottom half of the league was not in the script when SRU chief executive Mark Dodson appointed the hugely experienced South African back in 2013.

Great things were expected from Edinburgh under Solomons but they have never materialised in the Pro12.

With the 66-year-old out of contract at the end of the season, it is now or never for him to show he has the ability to turn his team into championship challengers.

But Dickinson (right) believes the underpressure head coach can turn round the fortunes of the club and can start the season with what would be a moraleboosting away win over Cardiff Blues on Friday.

‘We need a massive improvement this season and we can’t hide away from that fact,’ said the 32-year-old Scotland and Edinburgh prop forward, who will miss the start of the season with a hamstring injury. ‘Where we have been the last couple of years has been unacceptable. ‘Ninth place finish last season was such a poor reflection of the talent at the club. ‘This year there is a no-excuse mentality. With the guys we have got and the players that are coming in, we really should be challenging for the title and that has to be our aim.

‘Finishing ninth last season was disappointing and we can’t use the fact we lost players early in the season because of the 2015 World Cup as an excuse — as so did Glasgow.

‘The problem was there were too many silly errors and too many games we should have won that we lost. We need to start well to get some momentum and work every week to improve.

‘Our target this season is to win every game we can but we can’t look too much further. If we do that, we will get ourselves in trouble.

‘We will start afresh on the Monday after every match and ask what we have to do to win the next game. That is as simple as it gets. The time for excuses is over. We have to start to perform. There is nothing else we can really do.’