LONG-SUFFERING SOLOMONS WON’T PANIC

THREE games in and two defeats does not bode well but Edinburgh head coach Alan Solomons remains stoic. Thus far. With their pride having taken a battering in a 62-13 defeat at the Ospreys on Sunday, the Edinburgh players might at least take some solace from the fact that their leader is refusing to panic. ‘That’s not me,’ insisted Solomons (right) yesterday as his side prepared for the visit tonight of the Scarlets. ‘We started well in the pre-season friendlies and in victory away to Munster, but we dropped off those levels in the past two games and now we have to show we have learned from that. ‘We have worked hard to get the players back in the right mindset. We normally do our one-on-ones with each player on Wednesdays, but we did it on Tuesday this week because I felt the sooner we put that game to bed the better. ‘I did a careful analysis of the game and the key moments. ‘We had the wind knocked out of our sails with a try in the opening minute. We were on attack after 11 phases, 15 metres from their line, and dropped the ball. They went up the other end and scored. ‘When we had them under pressure in a scrum near their line, with a last warning and one of their players in the bin, instead of taking another scrum which would have resulted in a try, or penalty try and another yellow card, we took a tap. That was a lack of composure. ‘Once the players had gone through that, they under- stood they (Ospreys) didn’t do anything brilliant, but that every time we made mistakes we were punished. ‘But that doesn’t make us a bad side. On the day, we cost ourselves with mistakes and a lack of composure. A key factor was leadership, which you understand with the players we had missing (Ross Ford, Grant Gilchrist, David Denton, skipper Mike Coman and Test backs Matt Scott and Dougie Fife). Now they all understand how we lost, and, having taken the lessons from it, we have put that game to bed.’ How they now put it right is the question. The return of Ford and Gilchrist, to the bench, will help as his side return to Murrayfield to face Scarlets, who opened their season with a highscoring draw in Ulster, shipped 45 points in defeat at Leinster and then hammered Treviso. They are sixth in the table, three places but just three points above Edinburgh, and so much could change were Solomons’ team to bounce back effectively. Greig Tonks, Jack Cuthbert and Tim Visser form a strong back three, Sam Beard steps in at outside centre and Autumn Test candidate Sean Kennedy is back at No 9. Scarlets make two changes to the side that claimed their first win last week, Rob McCusker returning to the back row alongside Scotland flanker John Barclay, and scrum-half Aled Davies replacing the concussed Gareth Davies. EDINBURGH: Tonks; Cuthbert, Beard, Strauss, Visser; Heathcote, Kennedy; Dickinson, Ford (capt), Andress, Bresler, Atkins, Leonardi, Watson, du Preez.