IT may be a new season under a new coach but an issue that is as old as Scottish professional rugby itself was raised by Richard Cockerill yesterday in the question of where priorities lie when it comes to where players ply their trade after sevens specialist Dougie Fife began the new season with Edinburgh last weekend.

“We have three sevens guys in our programme at the moment,” Cockerill said, noting that James Johnstone and Jamie Farndale, as well as Fife (who picked up an ankle injury that needs to be scanned) have been involved.

“I would like to have them but that’s a wider discussion. It adds depth to the squad and they are Scottish-qualified guys and all very desperate to play for Scotland and Edinburgh. If I can have them – and those discussions are always up for debate – I would like to but John Dalziel is running the sevens programme and it would be pretty tough on him. We’ve got to work through that. It’s not just about me pulling rank, it’s about making sure the whole thing works.

“I believe that the sevens programme is to produce players for the 15s and national side, but we have to make that work within the whole programme. I will be pushing hard to try and keep those lads if I can. All three have been with us full-time for the whole pre season. They are already training for the sevens but their competitions don’t start until December I think. I’m not overly clued up on sevens.

“I’d like to keep them until then if I can. If those guys start commanding places in or around the 23 then you’d like to give them best shot at playing 15s.”

All of which lends itself to a couple of possible interpretations that are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Cockerill’s words could be taken as indicating that the sevens squad may have done its job in better equipping this particular trio, none of whom can be considered youngsters, for the demands of the professional game.

The evidence of their opening match against was, after all, that at least by the standards of the domestic Pro14 competition, he cannot claim to be short of depth in his squad given the way he successfully deployed it in Cardiff.

Being able to hold back tried and tested internationalists in Ross Ford, Scotland’s most capped player, Simon Berghan, Ben Toolis and Italian Michele Rizzo served a twin purpose in demonstrating that selection will be on performance in training rather than reputation.

“You could see the doubts of last season probably coming in when it was 10 all and you are probably going this is really a pivotal moment for us,” he said. “It wasn’t about necessarily hoping to bring the cavalry on, it was just that the guys who started deserved to start because of their pre-season. The Test boys by and large hadn’t done enough to get in the side.”

Whether the way they then ground out a 20-10 victory against a team they had not beaten away from home for five seasons is an indicator of anything longer term remains to be seen however, with Cockerill also pointing out that these players have a track record of letting themselves down after impressive wins.