With that in mind, a record of two wins from their first three matches in the Guinness PRO14 will be viewed as a positive start.

In a competitive Conference B, they are right in the hunt. One point off the Final Series places, four behind leaders Scarlets who they happen to play next.

Richard Cockerill, entering his third year at the helm, has helped develop depth to cope when the internationals are away.

Feed them back in – and the elimination of Scotland and Fiji means that will come sooner rather than later – and Edinburgh begin to look like a formidable prospect.

This should not really come as a surprise. In year one of the Cockerill reign, they qualified for the Final Series for the first time.

That year they came within a whisker of beating Munster at Thomond Park in the quarter-finals.

The expectation was to kick on last season, and on the surface it might be viewed as a disappointment. Fifth in their conference and missing out on even a Champions Cup spot.

Dig a little deeper though, and you find a team that topped a European pool featuring French giants Toulon and Montpellier, and again a heart-breaking quarter-final loss to Munster, this time in Europe at BT Murrayfield.

That they could not bounce back in Guinness PRO14 was disappointing, but not a reflection of their potential.

Cockerill has a relatively stable squad to choose from, with the likes of Ritchie and Bradbury ready to take the next step, not to mention back three dynamos Blair Kinghorn and Darcy Graham.

The little and large Scotland duo, along with Duhan van der Merwe, make for a lethal trio of attacking options.