Scotland winger Simon Webster admits Edinburgh need to get off to a flier in this season’s European Cup if they are to progress out of their group.
The side from the capital have been handed an exacting pool alongside two former winners in Bath and Ulster as well as French giants Stade Francais.
Edinburgh, currently without a coach after Andy Robinson left to take the Scotland job following Frank Hadden’s departure, made a slow start to last season’s competition.
They were beaten in their first home game by Wasps and although they responded with a fine away win in Castres the Black and Reds were always up against it in their group.
Now Webster hopes they can start with bang – even if it is at the expense of former colleague Hugo Southwell, who joined Stade Francias this summer.
The Hartlepool-born winger said: “In the European Cup, if you lose one game then suddenly you’re in trouble. We know from winning at Ravenhill and the Rec, albeit in a pre-season game, over the past two years what we need to do.
“The games seem so far away at the moment, but when we get back to pre-season we will start concentrating on tackling each game. We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves; we’ve got to take each game as it comes.
“Hugo was at Edinburgh for a long time and he did really well for us and I’m sure he’ll do well at Stade Francais.
“But when we pull on the Edinburgh shirt; we will be putting friendships to one side and it is all about winning that game.”
