EDINBURGH stand-off David Blair believes that sibling understanding could be the key to the Capital outfit posting their second win of the Magners League season against Ulster at Ravenhill tonight.
The 23-year-old has been handed the No.10 shirt and will link up with his elder brother Mike at half back, one of eight changes to the team that started in last week's narrow 11-9 defeat away to Dragons.
The younger Blair was first choice at th
e start of last season and had a run of five first-team appearances before subsequently being relegated to the substitutes' bench after being displaced by an in-form Phil Godman.
He believes his patience has been rewarded, saying: "I'm absolutely delighted to get the chance. I have waited a long time and I've had to be patient.
It makes a change to be wearing the No.10 jersey rather than the No.21 shirt and I'm just going to go out and enjoy the occasion."
And, having been involved as a replacement several times, he also feels that he and his brother, who returns after being rested last week, are more capable of combining as a cohesive unit.
"I've played with Mike quite a few times now over the past year and I've got used to how he plays the game", he added.
"So we've now got more of an understanding which half-backs need. He is four years older than me and I feel I've learned a lot from him."
Among coach Andy Robinson's other changes, two are enforced, with Chris Paterson and Alan MacDonald both out injured. They are replaced by Jim Thompson and Scott Newlands respectively, while John Houston, Andrew Kelly, Gavin Kerr and Ben Gissing also return to action.
It will be Thompson's first Magners League start and, while he sympathises with Paterson, who sustained an ankle injury in training on Tuesday, the 23-year-old is raring to go against the struggling Irish side, which now has former Scotland coach Matt Williams at the helm.
"I'm really looking forward to it. It is a shame that Mossy (Paterson] is out injured and I feel for him," said Thompson. "But it has created an opportunity for me and I'm looking forward to starting and playing as well as I can.
"Coming on as a replacement over the past two games has really given me an insight as to where you need to be in order to play Magners League rugby and I feel like I'm a lot better equipped to do that now."
In the opposition camp, Williams has also made eight changes as he bids for Ulster's first win of the season After three close matches, each of which yielded a narrow-defeat bonus point, Ulster were on the wrong end of a 43-0 result away to Ospreys last week and the coach is aware that his job is on the line if he fails to deliver a turnaround in fortunes.
Williams knows several of the Edinburgh side from his days at Murrayfield and he praised tonight's opponents, saying: "Edinburgh are a very good side, Andy Robinson is a world-class coach and their defence has improved enormously under his direction.
"They had a great win over the Scarlets a few weeks ago and played some high quality rugby against the Dragons. They know our form has been poor, and will be coming looking for a win."
Ulster: B Cunningham, C Schifcofske, D Cave, P Steinmetz A Trimble, N O'Connor, C Willis, T Court, R Best (C), BJ Botha, E O'Donoghue, R Caldwell, S Ferris, D Pollock, R Diack.
Subs: N Brady, J Fitzpatrick, C Del Fava, K Dawson/M McCullough, I Boss, I Humphreys, T Nagusa.
Edinburgh: J Thompson, J Houston, H Southwell, N De Luca, M Robertson, D Blair, M Blair, A Jacobsen, A Kelly, G Kerr, J Hamilton, B Gissing, M Mustchin, A Hogg, S Newlands.
Subs: R Ford, G Cross, C Hamilton, C Fusaro, G Laidlaw, P Godman, C MacRae.
The full article contains 679 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
