Cockerill crows about confident Edinburgh players

Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill has warned Newcastle his team will go into Friday's Heineken Champions Cup clash in confident mood after he welcomed 10 internationals back into his line-up.

Edinburgh lost 44-14 to Munster in the Guinness PRO14 last weekend but only two players have retained their starting places: South African pair Jaco Van Der Walt and Duhan Van Der Merwe, who grabbed two tries at Irish Independent Park.

Scotland internationals Blair Kinghorn, Darcy Graham, Henry Pyrgos, Stuart McInally, WP Nel, Ben Toolis, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie and Hamish Watson all return to action following the November internationals, which ended with victory over Argentina for their team.

And Fiji number eight Bill Mata also comes back in after helping his country beat France two weeks ago.

Edinburgh have a 100 per cent record at BT Murrayfield this season - they have lost all six games on the road - and Cockerill believes they can make their mark against the Falcons.

Cockerill said: "It's been great to get everybody back in, for obvious reasons. They're all fit and healthy, which is good news for the club.

"The lads who have been playing for Scotland should be confident. When we've got our combinations right we're as good as any team, and I believe we can compete with any team in Europe on our day.''

Edinburgh sit second in Pool Five, two points behind group leaders Newcastle.

"We need to win,'' Cockerill said. "If you're going to qualify out of the group, then you're going to need to win three of the last four games - at least - to give yourself an opportunity.'