Ian McGeechan Quotations

We're keeping our fingers crossed it's not a fracture. He's gone to hospital for x-rays. It might just be the join but you worry when you see the ankle twist like that.

We have had three separate specialist scans done and have gone into this with our eyes wide open. We want to put Phil back on top of his game.

We are a little unsettled due to injuries and face an Edinburgh team in form - they have lost only once at home since Christmas 2004.

Frank has a good record with Edinburgh and he did well in the two summer internationals. He understands the Scottish game and he has the advantage of being familiar with a lot of the players already.

Having Lawrence back is a tremendous boost for us,

He just went over on his ankle and it is not fully recovered,

Josh has been in full training for the last two weeks, and everything has gone very well,

Lawrence is one of the giants of the English and world game and we are, of course, delighted that he is remaining with us for a further 2 years.

Matt has been a huge part of English rugby for the past decade. One of the big characters in rugby is leaving the game.

I was on the phone to chief executive David Davies all the time to get Raphael involved in the club. I am delighted to get someone of his experience in that front five.

We carried on from last week in the first half.

We know their competitiveness and consistency is an immediate challenge for us,

You have had two players not playing for so long and when they come back they bring freshness and they are quality players.

This weekend's game is the biggest challenge you can have as a club, and we want to do ourselves justice following two previous poor performances on the road in the Heineken Cup. This is about playing for pride and measuring ourselves against the best in the northern hemisphere.

The tour will have a focus on the tests and a focus on development,

The three games have a nice balance to them,

Saracens are my 'dark horse' team of this season, and I think they will do very well over the year. We are anticipating a very tough contest, and know they will challenge us in every department,

They showed great control with the ball (against Northampton) last week, and played very impressively. We know we will be challenged in every area.

It was frustrating to watch the quarter-finals last weekend and not be part of them. We had a hard look at ourselves at the end of that particular group phase of the competition.

It was a very disrupted game, with no flow to it,

The best time would appear to be as soon after the end of the season as possible.

This is a very important game for both sides. A game against Bath has always been one of the biggest in the Premiership - our home match against them at the Causeway Stadium earlier this season was a tough one - and added to that, they must have taken a lot from their recent success in reaching the knock-out phase of the Heineken, which we failed to do. Also, it's good to see Brian Ashton back with them, and we know that in facing a team of his we will be asked questions, both tactically and technically.

I'm sure the team drew some confidence from the two wins in the summer. Obviously, we still need results under our belt because we haven't had results for the last 18 months or so, but looking realistically at the fixtures, there's the chance for two wins. The knack to success is getting a few victories and then building from there.

I really believe we can seize a lot of positives from the three games,

His loss was an immeasurable blow to the Lions cause, and his impact since he has returned to training with the club has been similarly invaluable.

I didn't think we ever got control of the business end of the game. We didn't have the pace or wit.

I'd rather have it right and have them fully fit for the following week.

Alex is an accomplished fly-half, and we are very glad to be retaining his services next year.

The five-day turn-around after Boxing Day is very tight, and we wanted to allow some players to recover fully from the Gloucester game.

The impact that he has, and will continue to have on the teams that he plays with, cannot be underestimated,