Ford, one of Scotland's leading players in the 2008 RBS 6 Nations, signed a fresh three-year contract a couple of weeks before the start of the tournament.

He believes under the tutelage of head coach Andy Robinson, Edinburgh's young squad can become one of the powerhouses of Europe.

He told Edinburgh's website: "The reason why I signed the deal was because I genuinely believe this is a club heading in the right direction.

"I'm only 23 and I've been told the average age of our squad is 26, but we are learning all the time and developing into a team that hopefully our supporters can be proud of. Hopefully that point was proved against Leinster.

"After the disappointment at Glasgow, everyone was desperate to do well against Leinster and I think we all fronted up on Friday night.

"Even though we have got a very young squad we have already showed we can compete on the big stage by beating the likes of Leicester.

"We all realise that success is not going to happen here overnight, but we are all optimistic about the future. Next year we are planning to build on what we have achieved this season and it should be a really eventful year.

"Hopefully as our team gets better our support will grow even bigger and eventually we will be seen as being one of the top teams in Europe."