EDINBURGH'S in-form centre will tonight set out to show he's now a "Cool Hand Luca" after learning the lessons from his first run of three consecutive cap starts.
A home Celtic League clash with Ospreys at Murrayfield provides the backdrop for Nick De Luca to put on a more laid-back showing after absorbing the teachings of the Autumn Tests which he claims have taken him a further stage forward on his quest for
rugby knowledge.
"It started badly with a sin-binning," said De Luca in referring to how his fifth international appearance in the series earned him an early yellow card with his side leading New Zealand 3-0 – only for the advantage to have evaporated by the time he returned, never to be regained.
"A penalty would have been fair enough and I was a bit shocked that I was binned (for playing the ball while lying offside].
"Looking back, I could see the ref was about to bin me and I had ten minutes to cool my head down.
"I was a bit pumped up after the haka and stuff and Chris Hoy."
That was a reference to the verbal exhortations by Edinburgh's triple Olympic cycling champion in the direction of the Scots while delivering their match ball.
De Luca added: "I went into the South Africa and Canada matches with a completely different head on. I was more relaxed. I learned and I'm still learning."
If you are only as good as your last game then De Luca is certainly on peak form. While he is first to admit Canada provided the most straightforward examination in a Test CV that comprises France, Wales, Ireland, Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa, that boost is something he hopes to carry forward into the club cause.
"I've had a great experience and was happy with my contributions overall," he said.
"I didn't let the sin-binning affect my game.
"There were two world-class opponents and we held our own. You could say that against New Zealand the bounce of the ball didn't work out, but you make your own luck and they were the better team. Against South Africa it was disappointing we didn't turn them over, while Canada provided positives."
These included De Luca setting up a score for Ben Cairns in a scenario he hopes can be repeated tonight.
"I was back in my days as a teenager at Dumfries in feigning to kick before hearing Ben screaming for the ball and he had to be put in for the try," he explained.
"Quite a lot of work has had to go into getting us back into Edinburgh's patterns but hopefully we'll be a well-oiled machine."
The message from De Luca is that Edinburgh will need to be operating smoothly.
"Ospreys are missing some of their Welsh players (who face Australia tomorrow) but they still have the likes of Filo Tiatia, Sonny Parker, Tommy Bowe and Nikki Walker, so even without other big names Ospreys are a great side," he said.
Whatever Ospreys have in store for Edinburgh, though, De Luca has proved himself up to the challenge, with the fixture containing happy memories.
"I managed to break Ross Rennie and Mike Blair's hold on the man-of-the-match awards last season to claim the prize when we beat them 19-18 in Wales and another victory is essential to get us back in the picture," he said.
In fact, a win would give Edinburgh a hat-trick of successes and keep them on course to better the four-in-a-row achieved at one stage last season.
Already they are in the record books, too, for having the biggest away winning margin of the current campaign and the highest points total by a visiting team – the 27-14 eclipse of Connacht just before the Autumn Tests arrived.
While De Luca was maintaining his 100 per cent appearance rate in that match, the fixture provided a first outing for seven months in Edinburgh colours for flanker Ross Rennie from off the bench. He takes things a step further with an inaugural 2008-09 start tonight.
It surely bodes well for Edinburgh prospects that a player whose Celtic League debut coincidentally was at home to the Ospreys in 2006 is intent on putting the accent firmly on what lies ahead.
"What I am particularly aware of is the frustration in Connacht stemming from being unable to claim a fourth try," said Rennie. "In a sense it was a good situation for me to come back from my knee problem in the closing minutes with the match won.
"But Ospreys will be more of a test especially with lads coming in keen to prove they are worth regular starts and keen to take the opportunity and we have to be ready in trying to climb the table."
That's a view shared by De Luca who, having been told to get on his bike in the wake of a visit to his Murrayfield pitch domain by Hoy, is now intent on gaining the metaphorical yellow jersey used to designate a front runner.
He said: "We signed off with two away wins, including a European Cup at Castres, but now we need a home Magners League win to add to that because we are not back in the hunt yet."
The full article contains 904 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
