Blair warns Edinburgh to be wary of uneven Ulster
MIKE BLAIR insists that Edinburgh won’t be fooled by Ulster’s patchy form when the teams meet at the DAM Health Stadium tonight. Ulster were just a point off the top of the league last month after beating rivals Leinster, but have now lost three matches in a row in the United Rugby Championship. They find themselves down in sixth place and Edinburgh could leapfrog them if they win tonight. But Blair is wary of falling into the trap of believing the Irish side have lost their way following defeats to the Bulls, the Stormers and Munster in successive games. Instead, he feels this could be one of Edinburgh’s biggest tests of the season in front of what is likely to be the first ever sell-out at the 7,774capacity DAM Health Stadium. ‘It’s not as if they’ve lost against poor quality teams, is it? They’ve still played some great rugby,’ said Edinburgh head coach Blair. ‘Ulster are a really strong team. They have a number of dangerous players, so we need to be switched on from the very first whistle. ‘A lot of their partnerships stay together because they don’t lose a huge amount of players during the Six Nations window. They are an excellent side. ‘But we’ve tried to focus on ourselves. We’ve talked about being in the moment and that mindset is something we need to continue as we face perhaps the biggest test so far at DAM Health Stadium. ‘The home crowd are going to have a huge part to play and it’s been brilliant to see the number of tickets sold as we approach the club’s very first sell-out.’ Blair has named a strong team full of internationals — and revealed that Scotland winger Darcy Graham is still on track to return from injury before the end of the season. With Graham on his way back from a muscle strain, Blair added: ‘He’s progressing really well, but he’s just not quite ready for this week. ‘We don’t want to rush him back. But we feel that he can still feature for us before the end of the season.’ Luke Crosbie returns in the back row after three months out, but lock Marshall Sykes misses the next three games after he was banned for his red card against Zebre.