De Luca expecting real test when friend becomes foe

De Luca is all set to go head-to-head with international colleague Sean Lamont as the Magners League gets back underway with a bang.

The 25-year-old De Luca featured as a replacement in all three of Scotland's autumn internationals, with Lamont also involved against Fiji, Australia and Argentina on the wing.

The pair now return to domestic action as the push for the Magners League play-offs begins in earnest, with Lamont switching to outside centre for Nigel Davies' Scarlets.

And De Luca, who has played in all seven of high-flying Edinburgh's league fixtures so far this season, believes that the attacking and defensive threat of his international colleague will need to be nullified if the Scottish capital outfit are to jump to the top of the Magners League standings.

"Sean is a great winger who is known as a devastating finisher," said De Luca.

"He is a big physical player and he is very hard to stop. He has been going very well for the Scarlets and it has been interesting seeing him play at centre.

"He had a great Autumn campaign, especially defensively. He really put in some huge hits and that really inspired our team.

"It will be a bit strange playing against him this week having worked alongside him over the past month and the fact he has been picked alongside Wales' Jonathan Davies means the Scarlets will be very strong in that area."

Friday night's trip to West Wales signals the start of an important few weeks for De Luca and his Edinburgh team-mates, with the match against the Scarlets followed by a vital European double header against Bath and back-to-back Scottish derbies against Glasgow in the Magners League.

Edinburgh currently sit second in the race for the Magners League play-offs but, with very little to choose between most of the sides in the division and only four teams set to qualify for the knockout stages in May next year, De Luca knows that fortunes can easily change.

"December is a huge month for us, not only because of the Magners League derby matches, but also because we get back into Heineken Cup action. It ends up with two games against Glasgow Warriors in the 1872 Cup matches and they will be massive occasions," added De Luca.

"Glasgow are currently in the top four and really going well, so the two games promise to be really good spectacles. And with so much more riding on the regular Magners League season with the introduction of the play-off system there will be a lot at stake.

"The competitive nature of the Magners League is shown by the fact that there are only four points between the seven teams at the top. We got beaten at home the last time we played a Welsh team, the Dragons, and so we need to put things right at Parc y Scarlets.

"Things are improving all round in Scottish rugby and I think we earned some respect for our performances last season. But we need to keep pressing forward and that means getting into the play-off s in the Magners League and the quarter-finals in Europe."