Lang: “There is very much still a fight ahead of us.”

With the race for the top eight heating up, the experienced centre has called on his teammates to draw a line under the derby and recognise that their goals for the season are still firmly within reach.

For Lang, the focus has already shifted from what was lost on Saturday to what can be gained in Italy, as the squad prepares to prove they have the stomach for the fight in the weeks ahead.

“It was very frustrating. There was a 12-point deficit; we knew what we needed to do,” Lang said, reflecting on the weekend’s 1872 Cup loss.

“First and foremost we needed the win for the league, and we didn’t get that. But it is a long old season. It starts now. We can’t just think it’s going to happen. We need to do it: we need action as players. So we need to come in this week and be honest with ourselves.”

While the final scoreline was a tough one to take, Lang is adamant that the performance contained plenty of building blocks. The centre noted that the capital side felt in control for significant periods, only for self-inflicted errors to halt their progress.

“I felt we were pretty dominant for large parts of that game. We were getting into good positions, but we just weren’t accurate enough. It was skill errors, individual errors, which let us down and really stopped our momentum.

“We know how dangerous Glasgow are as a team, and they capitalised in the last 10 minutes and the game kind of went away.”

Lang was clear, however, that these mistakes aren’t a symptom of a crisis in belief.

“I don’t think it’s a confidence thing. We work hard during the week: this team has been together now for a while and we know what we need to do and how we want to play.

“We’re just not consistent enough. We need to be there for 80 minutes, and at the moment we’re not; we’re there for 50, 60, even 70 minutes. And that’s not good enough at the top level against a top side like Glasgow.”

A major positive for the side remains a defensive effort that has stood tall under immense pressure. While the scoreboard didn’t go Edinburgh’s way, the grit shown on their own line remains a point of pride.

“You can’t fault the effort from the lads in defence,” Lang insisted. “Our attack is not firing like we want it to, and that’s down to us as players. We’ve got the game plan, we work hard during the week, and we need to take ownership of that.

“It’s small moments in games, and at this level in those small moments it’s the lack of accuracy and skill errors that will cost you. We are stringing some good bits together, but it’s the consistency and it’s doing it for the 80 minutes – that’s where we really need to improve.”

The road to redemption leads directly to Treviso this weekend, a fixture Lang identifies as a massive opportunity to reignite the campaign.

“Benetton are a great team. It will be a tough test, we know. But we also know how important it is for our season,” he explained. “It’s been an emotional couple of weeks. It always is with the 1872 Cup games.

“We’re going to have to dust ourselves off and come back in this week, ready to work hard and put some wrongs right. It can’t be all doom and gloom, because there’s very much still the season to fight for.

“We need to fight for each other. We care about each other—the players, the staff, we all care—and we want to show that on the pitch.”

With his sights set firmly on the trip to Italy, the message is one of unity and action: “We have to start showing who we are for 80 minutes. And it starts this week.”