EDINBURGH can go back to the top of the URC on Friday with a win or a draw against Leinster, but Adam McBurney, for one, knows well what a difficult task that can be.

The former Ulster hooker, who moved to the capital club last summer, managed to get the better of the champions a couple of times when with his old team. But he was also on the receiving end of the odd defeat, too, so is well aware of the threat that he and his team-mates will face in Dublin. He believes that, rather than there being any special secret to getting the better of Leinster, the key is quite simply to start as strongly as possible and build from there.

“It’s definitely an all-round challenge and it will definitely take 80 minutes,” McBurney said. “They’re not a team that’s going to roll over for you at any stage of the game.

“You don’t want to let them in early - that’s a big thing. If you let them in early they’ll get that momentum rolling and then they’re hard to stop. It will be a big start for us anyway and then we’ll just be trying to keep that going for the 80 minutes.

“It’s always a tough challenge, obviously. Thankfully I’ve got on the right end a couple of times, but I’ve also been on the wrong end, as a lot of other teams have been too. So yeah, tough team to play against, but I’m looking forward to another chance to go at them.”

After enjoying a couple of weeks at the top of the table, Edinburgh were knocked off their perch last weekend when Ulster, who have now played a game more, won at home to Connacht. But McBurney insisted that, while of course his team would rather still be in first place, their focus remained on the campaign as a whole.

“Yeah, it’s disappointing not to be at the top of the league, as we were for a couple of weeks,” he added. “But it is a long season and you don’t really want to be winning the league this week. Hopefully we can pick up points in the next couple of weeks and get in and around the top couple of places, then we’ll be in a good place going into the business end of the season.”

Edinburgh head coach Mike Blair will announce his team tomorrow for the match, which kicks off at 6pm on Friday.