Edinburgh remain competitive both in the United Rugby Championship and in Europe – but the margin for error remains negligible for head coach Sean Everitt and his players. As he admits, every week feels like knock-out rugby. The capital side cannot afford any more slip-ups in the URC as they chase down a top-eight finish and a subsequent berth in the play-offs with four rounds of fixtures to go and despite their inconsistent form this season, they remain one of the principal candidates for the second-tier European Challenge Cup. Their attention switches to that tournament on Friday evening when South African side Emirates Lions arrive at Hive Stadium. The visitors dismantled Edinburgh 55-21 earlier this season back on home soil and won in the capital three years ago, yet they are not normally strong travellers and were skittled 42-0 by Glasgow Warriors last weekend at Scotstoun. The onus is on Edinburgh – minus one of their star players in injured winger Duhan van der Merwe – to take control early and set up a home quarter-final against either Bayonne or Bulls. “We're in a knockout week every week so we're in the same situation as we were last year,” said Everitt, with a nod to how his team still struggle to find consistency. “I think from a personal point of view we're better off. We've created depth since last year this time. But it's becoming the norm now. You wake up, try your best, prepare every day to be better and hopefully you perform well on Friday night.” Everitt has challenged Edinburgh to maintain their “positive energy” having been buoyed by a 38-5 league win over Dragons last week in which several of their big-hitters returned following Six Nations duty. “We’ve put ourselves in a good position,” said Everitt. “It’s always good to take some momentum into a knockout game like this weekend. There’s a lot of positive energy around the camp. We had a lot of guys returning last week, that certainly helps the energy and the guys are really focused. “I think [playing in Europe] freshens things up from the URC because you get opportunities to play against teams that you probably wouldn’t play against. We went to Vannes, a beautiful town, and we got the opportunity to play against Bayonne, so there are teams you don’t normally play against, which is good to freshen up the guys. “At the same time, it’s a competition that has got a bit of prestige to it and it is an opportunity for a trophy as well. We are playing the Lions, which is a URC team. People will say it’s the same old, but it’s not. We played the Lions in the third round of the URC, it’s going to be really exciting.” Everitt are ready to make amends for what happened in Johannesburg last October when Edinburgh were 48-0 down after the first 40 minutes. “I think we learned valuable lessons there in the first half against the Lions,” continued the South African coach. “We saw Glasgow blitz them as well in the first 40 minutes [last Saturday] in really difficult conditions. “It was a weird one in terms of a couple of very different-looking halves. They’ll all be disappointed with that loss, but I know how proud they are as a franchise and as a group of players and I know them quite well, so they’ll be looking to bounce back this weekend. “I know the Lions really well and I know the individuals there, they're fighters. They've been good in the URC up until that game so you can't judge them on that game. They're a good all-round team. “The defence was strong and they showed that in the second half against Glasgow and they've got some X-Factor players there that can turn the game around very quickly which we found out in Johannesburg. “It's a difficult team to play against and at the same time I'm sure they're going to be looking to bounce back because they probably feel a bit embarrassed about that result. Like I said, it's not because they're the Lions but they take a lot of pride in their effort." Ross McCann starts in place of Scotland wing Van der Merwe, who is out until next month, while hooker Dave Cherry returns to the XV for the first time since starting each of Scotland’s five matches in the recent Six Nations. Full-back Wes Goosen will earn his 50th cap for Edinburgh in the week he signed a new two-year contract extension with the capital club, having enjoyed a stellar 2024/25 campaign to date. Everitt has made four changes in total, with England international Paul Hill returning at tighthead prop and Sam Skinner returns from his rest period to start at lock alongside co-captain Grant Gilchrist.