Tonks: Up-and-down Edinburgh can improve

The 25-year-old missed both the stunning victory at Munster and disappointing defeat at home to Connacht last week with a groin problem.

Ahead of Sunday's clash with Ospreys he said there can't be such a discrepancy in their performances the rest of this season if the capital side want to be playing the best teams in Europe next season.

"Obviously, Ospreys are top of the league right now and they have had two fine wins against Treviso and Dragons," he told the Scotsman.

"We go to the Liberty on Sunday knowing that this will be a real acid test for us and our ability to bounce back from the Connacht defeat.

"We have a chance to prove what we are made of against one of the teams that has been consistently at the top of the PRO12 and that is huge motivation.

"It's a huge disappointment not be in the inaugural European Champions Rugby Cup and the bottom line is that we have to get in that top six this time around.

"For a club like Edinburgh the ultimate goal has to be to be playing in the European top-flight, nothing else is good enough and that is a huge driver for us this season.

"So the Munster victory was a huge one for the club and, with us then losing to Connacht, it just shows you the importance of backing it up and making sure you are consistent.

"The Munster match has to be the benchmark for Edinburgh. We may have a young team, and as everyone knows you get a bit of inconsistency with that, but it's up to us to make sure we come up to the standard of the Munster performance as often as we can."

And having shaken off his groin issue, Tonks is eager to be included in the Edinburgh squad for Sunday's trip to Wales.

He said: "Obviously it has been frustrating to have played in the pre-season games and really felt like I was back and good-to-go, then you get another niggle.

"But that is rugby and the main thing is that I have a good week in training behind me and the light is very much at the end of the tunnel."

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