Edinburgh centre Matt Dey is not fazed by the prospect of facing Brian O’Driscoll in the Heineken Cup – because he is too busy worrying about his exams.
The Scotland A international notched a try in his first start of the season for Edinburgh during last Friday’s 20-14 triumph over Ulster.
The 26-year-old is likely to face up to British and Irish Lions skipper O’Driscoll when Andy Robinson’s side play Leinster on Friday night.
But two exams which he had deferred several times amid rugby commitments have preyed more on his mind.
"I have been doing a learning programme for the last couple of years with my long-term goal of doing an MBA," he said.
"I sat an economics paper on Monday and a finance paper on Tuesday.
"I think the exams were a little bit more out of my comfort zone, unlike the rugby.
"So I have probably lost more sleep over the exams than I have from worrying about the Leinster game.
"If I play on Friday, then I will be up against Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy, who are world-class players, so I will have to be at my absolute best.
"But you want to be able to play against guys who are the best and it would be brilliant to be able to do that for Edinburgh in the Heineken Cup."
Edinburgh have lost to Toulouse and Leicester in the Heineken Cup so far but Magners League wins over Llanelli and Ulster in their previous two games have given Dey hope.
He said: "It is a huge challenge – Leinster are a star-studded team and I think by their own admission they have probably underachieved a little in Europe.
"But they are a very talented group of players with some real stand-out performers.
"It will be a really tough test for us, but having won the last one at home and then Ulster away we are confident.
"We are looking to build on that and looking to improve on the things that didn’t go so well and take that to Dublin.
"We need to cut out the silly errors, keep the penalty count down and force them to play. I don’t see any reason why we can’t go there with a lot of confidence."
