There will, warned Richard Cockerill, be no more glory days at Murrayfield next season unless Edinburgh can win all three of their remaining Pro14 games. After their 13-17 home Champions Cup quarter-final defeat to Munster on Saturday, Edinburgh now have less than a month to salvage a season that is danger of ending with a whimper.

Cockerill has stressed to his battered troops that they must rally for this weekend’s crucial game at Scarlets. With Leinster so far clear at the top of Conference B that they have effectively already won it, Edinburgh are in a four-way dogfight with Ulster, Benetton and Scarlets to claim either second or third place and, with it, a Pro14 play-off place and a berth in next season’s Champions Cup.

With Edinburgh seven points behind Ulster, three points behind Benetton and two points ahead of Scarlets, they must win at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday, then defeat Ulster at home before winning at Scotstoun on the final day of the season to guarantee being involved in this season’s Pro14 knockout stages and next season’s Champions Cup. Finishing fourth in the Conference would mean they miss out on the play-offs but play the fourth-placed team in Conference A for the Pro14’s seventh Champions Cup place.

“The game at Scarlets will be massive,” said Cockerill. “What happens in the next three weeks will have an impact on what happens over the next 12 months. We need to make sure that the next three games are solid and we try to get into the play-offs for the Pro14 and qualify for Europe.

“Scarlets need to win too. They've had a break and they'll be fresh, but we'll recover, we’ll get ourselves right, and the reality is we've got three games left in the season. We need to be right for them.”

Pro14 standings 2018/19