WITH just a week to go before Edinburgh play the biggest game of their professional incarnation when they take on Gloucester in the European Challenge Cup final in London, coaches and officials at the club are sweating over the fitness of Dave Denton, the Scotland No.8 who has yet to begin the stipulated recovery process after suffering concussion against Munster the weekend before last.

Denton, who missed Scotland's summer tour last year due to another serious head knock, lasted just 12 minutes of the game against Munster, in which Edinburgh were beaten 34-3. World Rugby, the game's ruling body, now recommends that any player who has suffered concussion must pass a series of tests over a six-day period before he can be cleared to play again, but that process can only begin once he has been symptom free for 24 hours.

In that regard, Denton has clearly not reached first base yet. Realistically, he would have to declare himself symptom free today to have even an outside chance of playing against Gloucester. It is a race against time which allows almost no margin for error.

"I'm hoping that he'll be fine, but it is a question of wait-and-see with him," said Edinburgh coach Alan Solomons. "He has not started the protocol, but the medics anticipate starting that shortly. He can still make it and he's got the time to make it, but it is getting pretty tight."

In fairness, Edinburgh did pretty well without Denton as they crushed Newport Gwent Dragons 45-16 at BT Murrayfield last Friday to clinch their European final place. In which light, it is probably understandable that Solomons was reluctant to tamper with a winning formula when he chose his side to face Zebre in tonight's Guinness PRO12 clash with Zebre at the same ground, although it had been widely believed that he would rest some of his big hitters ahead of the Gloucester match.

Instead. Solomons has issued the play-it-again instruction to 14 of the 15 players who started against the Dragons. The one who misses out is Jack Cuthbert, the full-back, who suffered a groin injury in the course of that match. Tom Brown, whose career seems to have flatlined since his sudden emergence three seasons ago, takes Cuthbert's place, gaining the perfect opportunity to press his case for selection in the final as well as reminding us why he was such an exciting prospect in the first place.

Solomons' decision to make no compromises and put out what is virtually his strongest side against the PRO12's bottom-placed side is a clear signal that there is no room for complacency as Edinburgh chase the top-six place that will guarantee Champions Cup rugby next season. As he pointed out, the Dragons victory which secured them their European final place was put to bed quickly earlier this week as attention swung round to domestic business.

Solomons said: "We stressed on Monday that the weekend is forgotten and that the only thing we would be concerned about is Zebre on Friday night. Since then, the focus has been good and all the players have taken the message on board.

"Zebre have quite a few guys who have been involved with the Italian national side in their team. They are also fighting with Treviso to go into the Champions Cup [as top-placed Italian side in the PRO12] so we know there is motivation there. They have something to play for. Our attitude is that we don't underestimate anybody."

Edinburgh currently hold eighth place in the PRO12 table. However, a win tonight would propel them into sixth, past Scarlets and Connacht, who take on Glasgow and Dragons tomorrow. A bonus point could also turn out to be pretty handy at the business end of the season, but Solomons made it clear that victory is the first priority, even against a Zebre team that is far short of full-strength.

The weather is not due to be that good because the rain is coming in and it is expected to be pretty heavy about six o'clock," was the coach's clear warning that a feast of flowing rugby and a subsequent try-fest might not be the pattern to expect at tonight's game.

"The first thing is that we have to perform well enough to win the game," he continued. "We can then take it from there. It is always an error to think about other things. It is disrespectful to your opponents as well."

With a cloud of doubt hanging over Denton, Solomons will be keen to see more of Cornell du Preez, who returned to action in a brief cameo appearance as a replacement against Dragons after a long absence with a serious ankle injury. Du Preez is again on the bench, but a decent shift may well be enough to force him into the starting lineup for the Gloucester game.

"I'm hoping that he gets more game time this week," Solomons admitted. "He only had 10 or 11 minutes last Friday. He needs to get more game time this week. If he gets a reasonable block I think he will be ready to start a game if selected.

"Forty minutes is probably a little bit heavy for him at the moment. He could possibly do it, but I would have thought that 20 to 30 minutes is what we would look for. It all depends how the game is going."