WITH more than half their squad and their head coach, Alan Solomons, out of contract in the summer, Edinburgh Rugby have a lot of negotiating and number-crunching to do over the coming months. The compensation paid by Bath for the early release of David Denton will only go so far. Some tough choices will have to be made, and the budget could be tested to destruction if they are to succeed in holding on to key assets such as WP Nel.

One piece of good news for the team is that Alasdair Dickinson is eager to extend his stay. And, if the loosehead prop sees a future for himself in the capital at a time when he is playing the best rugby of his career, perhaps Nel, who is increasingly being recognised as a world-class tighthead, will be more inclined to stay.

Along with hooker Ross Ford, the two props are part of an increasingly feared front row for both Edinburgh and Scotland. They scrummaged the Dragons into the ground in Friday night’s 32-13 league win at Murrayfield, with the Welsh side receiving four yellow cards as they resorted to illegal methods to prevent a humiliation.

As if to demonstrate that they can do a lot more than dominate the set piece, Nel and Dickinson scored their team’s first two tries, with backs Tom Brown and Matt Scott joining in later as Edinburgh secured their first bonus point of the season. Nel had another touchdown disallowed for a double movement, and after the game Dickinson praised both of his front-row colleagues.

“WP almost got about four tries - he’s a bulldozer when it comes to a couple of metres out,” Dickinson said. “He’s so good at that and has scored so many tries for us.

“He was outstanding against Dragons. And Ross Ford is just consistently world class. Playing alongside those guys is a pleasure.”

It is a pleasure that Dickinson plans to prolong, although, with characteristic humility, he accepted that his employers would first have to decide that they wanted him to stay. “It’s up to the powers that be,” the 32-year-old continued. “I keep my head down and work hard.

“I love playing for Edinburgh; it’s my home club. I went away, got experience, came back and I love it. Hopefully I’ll be able to stay. But it’s up to the head honchos what happens.

“It would be great if we can keep the pack together, because we’ve grown in the last couple of years. Fingers crossed.

“The players don’t want to leave. Some probably will; that’s just pro sport. But as far as I’m aware, everyone wants to stay. We’re a pretty close team, we’ve gone through some tough times together. We’ll see what happens.”

When Grant Gilchrist returns from injury shortly to call the shots in the lineout, Edinburgh should become even more dominant up front, at least for the rest of the season. How they fare after that will depend less on hard work on the training field, and more on hard bargaining around the boardroom table.