There are few things more important in sport than finding a way of being in the right place at the right time. And if that includes waiting on the bench for the opportunity to make a difference then so be it, according to Edinburgh centre Chris Dean.

Relatively fresh afield, he was the man who took advantage of the collected pressure applied to Toulon on Saturday as Francois Trinh-Duc felt forced to attempt a pass that was not on and gifted Dean the try.

A week earlier Dean had also been the man who managed to reverse the normally unstoppable Louis Picamoles as he charged towards the try-line in the closing stages of their meeting with Montpellier, in doing so keeping the margin within seven points and so earning another bonus point.

“That’s it … just 10-minute man,” he laughed.

“If that’s my job, that’s my job. I’ll take it. It’s always frustrating on the bench as a player, but being able to come off it and affect the game in a small period of time is obviously pretty fulfilling that as an individual that you can contribute in a way.”

While modern coaches attempt to claim that all 23 members of a matchday squad are equally important, Dean’s admission that he would rather be on the pitch at the start of games remains the normal player’s view. But there is also an understanding that there is a different kind of responsibility that comes with being brought on at the business end of matches.

“You obviously want to be in that 1 to 15 jersey, that’s normal, but being a part of the squad is still great and I like to use the term finisher,” he observed.

“You’ve got starters and finishers and if you’re a finisher you’ve got to go on and do the same job you would if you were starting. That’s the mentality I like to take into it and it’s been good the last couple of weeks, but I’m sure opportunities will come round at some point and I’d like to grab it.”

With several of his colleagues likely to be unavailable, that opportunity could well come around this week and is likely to mean added responsibility for a player who has now been part of the squad for several seasons

Dean is consequently acutely aware of how Edinburgh have traditionally slipped up after results and knows they must now strive ever harder to achieve the consistency being demanded by head coach Richard Cockerill and show the capacity to maintain standards runs throughout the squad.

“I guess a few internationals have gone now and won’t be with us this week, so there will be guys getting opportunities that will be looking to really make a mark,” he said.

“It is very different going from playing Toulon to then Zebre, but in the past we’ve fallen at that hurdle. I’ve certainly been a part of it, beating a big team then slipping up the next week against a so-called or perceived lesser team and that’s now a mindset that we can’t have.

“Cockers put that into us this morning and the squad now understand that we’ve got to attack every game with the same mindset every week.

"So we’ll be going out there to win as well.

“We’ve worked very hard in pre-season to get our fitness levels up there and we work every week on fitness. Our strength and conditioners are pretty serious on that front and it’s working.

"We are a team now that are able to work for a full 80 minutes and everyone’s able to put 100 per cent in for every minute that they’re on.”