And he explained that the likes of Cross guarantee that there are no short-cuts being taken as Andy Robinson's men prepare for the 2008/09 campaign.

The whole Edinburgh squad will resume pre-season training next week following their exertions for their country at test match and 'A' level at the start of the summer.

Lawrie said: “At the moment, the fitness and conditioning staff are trying to get us bigger. So we are doing a couple of weights sessions in the morning – we do our heavy lifting in the morning – and then towards the end of the week, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, we have conditioning.

“It varies from doing running sessions and strong-man events. These are more specific for front-five players and then we also do our running sessions to determine our fitness levels.

“It is going well and all the boys are putting it in; that is the beauty of it. Especially with experienced guys like Simon Cross, who have done six pre-seasons, high standards are set.

"These guys are all mad keen to do the work while in times gone by there were punishments handed out to players."