Edinburgh's home defeat by Zebre was the low point of their season but it may also prove to have been the catalyst for a change in dynamic which has seen the players take more responsibility for their actions. A quiet revolution is underway and it’s being led by senior figures such as Magnus Bradbury, back at the club after two years in the English Premiership with Bristol Bears. Bradbury, now 29, is an increasingly impressive figure, speaking with honesty and maturity as he outlines what had to change and why. He says Edinburgh’s core principles remain the same but the squad have become better at delivering them. Since the 22-17 reverse against Zebre they have won three from four to move into the top eight of the United Rugby Championship and the quarter-finals of the EPCR Challenge Cup. They will host the Bulls in the latter competition on Saturday and know that if they can overcome the South African side they will be rewarded with a home semi-final against either Bath or Gloucester. Edinburgh beat the Lions in the round of 16 last Friday and while he accepts the Bulls will provide a tougher test, Bradbury feels confident the squad are up for the challenge. “I think we're in a really good place at the moment,” said the back-row forward. “Our game hasn't changed much, the principles haven't changed, but we've just got a lot better at delivering them. “Defensively, we're the strongest we've been all season. Against the Lions we made them play where they didn't want to play. We kept them in the middle of the park and closed them down. “We know that the Bulls is a step up physically, definitely. We know these South African teams, if you go toe to toe with them, if you surprise them with your physicality, then anything can happen. I fully believe we can beat them here.” The defeat by Zebre in February came in the midst of the Six Nations when Edinburgh were without a raft of players away on Scotland duty. The core group that remained refocused and decided to become, in Bradbury’s words, ‘player led’. “We lost 15 to 20 boys so it was a really small group we had and we delivered each week,” said the No 8. “We revisited our principles. So it was like a mini pre-season for us. We had six, seven weeks with just that group. “So, we said to ourselves, we challenged ourselves: ‘when the Scotland boys come back in, it's going to feel like a different environment’. “So, we pushed the coaches a lot. Not that they weren't giving us an opportunity to speak, but we wanted to change things. We wanted to become more player-led so we had more responsibility with the game plan so we can then grow ourselves and make it a 50-50 environment rather than the 60-40 that it was before. So, I think that paid huge dividends. “And then the Scotland boys come back and they've added their own experience. When you've got international calibre players delivering on a really strong game plan, a really clear game plan, it can only go from strength to strength.” In professional sport, it’s invariably the head coach or manager who carries the can when things go wrong. Sean Everitt had flak come his way after a disappointing first season in which Edinburgh failed to make the URC play-offs. There have been dips this season too, with the capital club struggling to put together a consistent run of results. The loss to Zebre was a particular low but Bradbury insists it was down to the players, not the management. “What started it was the Zebre game we lost,” he said. “Sean said to the media, ‘that's on me’. And we were like, ‘nah, it starts with us’. “It starts with the coaches delivering the game plan but then it's down to us from probably a Tuesday afternoon onwards. It's down to the players to review training, to polish things and ultimately, we're the ones on the pitch, it's our responsibility. “We didn't want it to be where we're telling the coaches they're wrong because that's not what we think. We think the coaches deliver a really good game plan, but we just want more responsibility so we can be harder on ourselves. “It's more of a player-led environment in terms of we're calling each other out. Previously we were accepting people who don't do their job sometimes and we were not calling each other out. But in that six, seven, eight weeks we had together, we got to a really healthy point where I'm being challenged by academy players to get my stuff right. But then on the flip side, I'm challenging myself to make sure I get my stuff right so I can call other people out.” He says it makes for a healthy environment to have young bucks like Freddy Douglas and Liam McConnell pushing him. The 19-times capped Bradbury captained Edinburgh during his first spell at the club but cuts a more authoritative figure now and puts it down to his two seasons with Bristol. “It was kind of sink or swim. You have to find yourself and know where you slot in on the team. But seeing other leaders and seeing another environment, how that operates, I think that's added more strings to my bow and I'm older, more experienced. “I've gone down somewhere else and done my own thing and come back and I want to add my experience to the squad now and have a different perspective on things because Bristol, the way they play, is so different to any team at the moment. “Seeing the way they play and seeing how that fits into our game plan and having that sort of comfortable nature, open door policy with the coaches where you can tweak things is really good. “When it works well and you speak to other people and get everyone to pull in the same direction, it's really, really good.”