Cardiff Blues boss Phil Davies admits Friday’s trip to Edinburgh couldn’t be better timed – both in terms of the influx of Six Nations personnel and their opponents’ troubles. Edinburgh announced this week that coach Michael Bradley would be leaving the region in the summer after a nightmare run of form which has seen them lose their last eight encounters in all competitions. While the Scottish outfit are reeling from that news, Davies has been buoyed by the return of some of the Welsh contingent to his 23 for Friday’s clash. Josh Navidi will start at blindside with Scott Andrews at tighthead prop while fellow Welsh squad members Lou Reed – who came off the bench in the 16-6 win over France – and Andries Pretorius are on the bench. The Blues have won just one of their last five away games in all competitions: 17-6 against Munster in Cork in the RaboDirect PRO12 on January 5. “We've made a lot of progress as a squad and this is an opportunity for us up in Scotland,” said Davies. “There is a group of men who want to win for the region. “The Six Nations is obviously a big part of the rugby season so you know that you will have these periods when you will be without your international players. “You know they are coming so you have to plan for them. “Last weekend we played some good rugby but lost ourselves for 15 minutes, which was disappointing, and cost us. We're not gaining consistency in performances and therefore not getting consistent results. “We've been developing our game this week and putting things in place we'd like to see on Friday night. If we perform well we can get the win. “We have three league matches in February where we want to get wins and climb the league then a break where we can work on conditioning and so on.” For Edinburgh – whose last win came in the RaboDirect PRO12 against Connacht on December 1 – the visit of the Blues offers an opportunity to end a tough week on a high. The Scotsmen – who welcome back three Scotland internationals into their side in the shape of David Denton, Geoff Cross and Nick De Luca – have won just two of their last six matches with Welsh regions at Murrayfield in the RaboDirect PRO12. However in the corresponding league fixture at the Arms Park earlier this season Bradley’s side won 21-19 and he said: “Our position in the league [ninth] puts a finer point on the need for us to perform well and win this match at home. “We have some key players back with us from injury and from the Scotland camp, which will undoubtedly help our efforts to relive the success we enjoyed over Cardiff at the beginning of the season. “They [Cardiff] are currently six points and two places above us in the RaboDirect PRO12, so it’s plain to see the value of a home win as we look to climb the table in the end-of-season run in.” At Murrayfield , 7.30pm. Referee: John Lacey (IRFU, 26th competition game) Assistant Referees: David Changleng, Bob Nevins (both SRU) Citing Commissioner: Iain Goodall (SRU)
