A 21ST Celtic League appearance beckons for Scott Newlands if the flanker is chosen to turn out amongst the best of Scottish, Irish and Welsh provincial rugby yet again when Ulster visit Edinburgh on Friday.
A coming of age, undoubtedly, but could it be that 23-year-old Newlands will also use the occasion to catapult himself towards those higher honours which have seemed inevitable at some stage after playing his way through the Scottish age-group system
?
Certainly the time seems right to make a push for the next step up with caps Ross Rennie (knee) and Dave Callam (hip) ruled out for the remainder of the season and question marks being raised against their fellow back rowers Matt Mustchin and Alan MacDonald who suffered ankle and head knocks respectively in last Friday's defeat at Glasgow.
A disappointing result it undoubtedly was but among the silver linings for Edinburgh was the performance of Newlands on the blindside of the scrum.
Since starting in the corresponding fixture against Ulster back in the autumn Edinburgh-born Newlands, who emerged through the Kelso club before going on to play at Heriot's, has had six further run-on roles in the eight subsequent games and the experience being gained is starting to show in some mature displays.
Not just because of a distinctive red headguard does he regularly catch the eye, and against Glasgow the pain of defeat was occasionally eased by the sight of his thumping hits to drive the opposition ball carrier back.
True, higher up the scale competition is fierce with both Ally Strokosch and Jason White the front-runners for Six Nations berths and rightly so.
But the impression is that Newlands, skilful in offloading possession and more inclined nowadays to avoid penalties by staying on his feet at breakdowns, is starting to close a gap even if this most modest of individuals deflects praise by focusing attention on to the need to return to winning ways by coming together in adversity.
"It is really disappointing for the guys who are hurt and Ross Rennie was just getting a sniff of a comeback following a long time out when his old (knee) trouble flared up again.
"Similarly Chops (Mustchin] had a chance to show what he could do only to get hurt against Glasgow. What matters is we get a victory (over Ulster] during what we talked about would be a big part of the season."
Even with a bonus point for finishing within a single score Edinburgh have dropped to sixth in the table from the runners-up spot they briefly occupied a week previously.
But so tight is the table that they are still just half a dozen points off the pace – and Newlands, a member of the Scotland A squad at last summer's Churchill Cup in Canada, knows it.
"This season we've seen the team at the bottom (Connacht] beating the leaders (Munster] so there's plenty to play for.
"Against Glasgow we started to get on top midway through the second half as they started to look a bit tired. They hit us back into defence for long spells and stopped us getting quick ball which was to their credit.
"But our late try showed we were staying the course and the aim will be to carry on from that against Ulster ."
Though nobody in the Capital camp was making excuses one factor not to be underestimated was the narrower dimensions of the Firhill pitch, at least in comparison to Murrayfield.
Back on home terrain there will be more space for potentially deadly backs to exploit while as for Scott Newlands it is an open prairie for him to hunt either flattening opponents with his impressive 16st and 6ft 3in frame or providing a link using slick handling skills.
Indeed, for those in the opposition ranks the sight of Newlands and his scarlet headgear is nothing less than a red alert.
And while Edinburgh are fortunate at a time when back row cover is being stretched that they also have Simon Cross, Roland Reid and young Fraser McKenzie, currently with the national sevens squad, also ready to step up, it is Scott Newlands who appears to have most to gain entering 2009.
