TAKE Edinburgh as lightly as they did earlier this season, and the Ospreys could end up on the rocks.

It is a stark warning from Ian Gough, the Ospreys lock who played in September's tumultuous 26-19 win over the same opponents at the Liberty Stadium.

On that occasion, the Ospreys snatched victory with a Justin Tipuric try in a breathless final phase of the game.

The fortuitous score came from a kind bounce of the ball, and it gave the Ospreys a lucky reprieve as they followed an opening weekend win over Leinster with a second successive success.

But there was despondency in the home changing room, with players and coaches glumly pondering a tight contest which very nearly ended in defeat.

Five months later, the former Celtic champions will be more than wary of the challenge they face at Murrayfield this evening.

Edinburgh have booked a place in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals for just the second time in the club's history, throwing the ball around freely and scoring 17 tries in the process.

Michael Bradley's men will again be looking to play an expansive game tonight, and Gough is warning his team-mates not to get sucked in.

"We've had many battles against them," he says.

"We know how dangerous they are because we went up there a few years ago and Tim Visser came off the bench and scored one of the quickest hat-tricks in league history.

"They've got these sort of players right through their team and they've got a good offloading game.

"They've got a style of rugby where they draw you into it.

"It's like the sirens drawing you on to the rocks.

"They draw you into the game at their big, lovely stadium and you fall for it at your peril and you end up on the rocks.

"They are actually a nice team to play against because they play some nice stuff and you know you've got to do a lot of work.

"And if you beat them, especially up there, then you're well deserving of a win."

The last meeting between the sides is still a vivid memory for Gough, and the Welsh international of 64 caps is urging his colleagues to heed the lessons from their previous encounter.

"It brought this team back down to earth. If we want to win, we can't just turn up and expect it to happen," he adds.

"In fairness, if we'd lost that game, we couldn't have complained.

"You're never happy at times. That was only the second game of the season and they shocked us.

"It brought us down to earth after we'd come off a good win against Leinster beforehand.

"We were flying high because Leinster are such a quality outfit, and we took them a bit lightly.

"But if Edinburgh start as favourites, it adds more to us. That's fine by us.

"It doesn't matter where we go, we want to go there and kick the door in.

"We won't take teams like this lightly. You take them lightly at your peril."

Tonight's clash at Murrayfield will be the second of three Welsh-Scottish duels in the space of four days.

After the Scarlets' trip to Glasgow last night and this evening's match in Edinburgh, Wales welcome Scotland to the Millennium Stadium for their second Six Nations fixture on Sunday.

Gough's most recent appearance for Wales came against Fiji in 2010, and it had appeared the 35-year-old's international career was at an end.

But with Bradley Davies suspended for seven weeks following his tip-tackle in Ireland last week, together with the absence of Alun Wyn Jones and Luke Charteris, the second row is something of a problem position for Wales.

It has been suggested Gough might be in line for a surprise recall, but the 6ft 5in bulwark is keen to cool such speculation.

"No. I think I've pledged my future to the Ospreys now and there are a lot of youngsters coming through," Gough adds.

"As nice a gesture as it was and for the ego it was a nice massage, my future is with the Ospreys and concentrating on doing well for them.

"It was just speculation and the rumour mill flying around. As nice as it is, my job is up in Edinburgh tonight."

Gough is single-minded in his pursuit of victory in Scotland this evening, regardless of style or performance.

As the former Dragons man has said, Edinburgh favour a dangerously open approach, but the Ospreys will be happy enough to grind out an ugly win.

"We expect to go everywhere and do a job. It's the same mentality wherever we go," Gough says.

"This is the same group of players which served us at the start of the season when we went on a nice unbeaten run.

"We've got a good bit of mettle about us. It's not flashy and it's not full of flair and ribbons but we go to places like a Dirty Dozen. We go there, we do a job and we do it tough.

"Edinburgh is not an easy place to go. It's a big stadium and the supporters bounce about in it.

"They play a nice brand of rugby up there. It's on a big pitch and you can get drawn into that brand of rugby and go outside the gameplan you want to execute.

"You can end up playing a bit of sevens and a bit of loose stuff. It's tough mentally to make sure that you enact what you practice in the week."

The Ospreys' steely core seems to be the product of a strong camaraderie their players have cultivated in a season disrupted by international call-ups for the World Cup and Six Nations.

These competitions have given the Ospreys the opportunity to field a number of promising, untried players, and Gough believes a focus on youth has galvanised the squad.

"It seems to give us a mentality which strengthens us massively," he says.

"We're quite used to people and pundits writing us off and being negative about us.

"This group of players comes in without being given a chance because we've got so many international players.

"This has been such a good region to grow these internationals from within and, when these guys are given a chance, they've really stepped up to the plate and put their hands up.

"The likes of Ashley Beck have then got places in the Welsh squad off the back of these performances."

Wales coach Warren Gatland rewarded 21-year-old centre Beck for an excellent season so far with a call-up to the Six Nations squad.

Beck is one of a number of younger players to have blossomed at the Liberty this term and another, Justin Tipuric, caught the eye when he came on at half-time for Wales in their 23-21 win in Ireland last Sunday.

The 22-year-old Ospreys flanker was a menace at the breakdown and, if it was not for an injury, he would have been in contention for Wales this weekend.

Tipuric has also captained the Ospreys this season, and Gough has been impressed by his young leader.

"Tips has been brilliant. It's what he's been doing week in, week out," he says.

"He was written off when he was coming through in the academy.

"He was told he was the wrong shape, the wrong size but he sat everyone down here. He's captained us at 21 and 22 years old.

"He's captained the side with maturity and everyone looks up to him."