Sean Everitt has looked to ease any fears over Emiliano Boffelli’s injury and hopes he can return in time to face Munster next week.
The Argentina fullback has been hampered with a back problem over recent months and it flared up again following the win over Cardiff.
The spasms he’s been having meant Everitt decided to leave him out of this weekend’s game, but he is confident Boffelli could be back soon.
In his absence, Matt Currie switches to the wing from his usual position in the centre, with Mark Bennett coming into the side as one of two changes.
The other sees Bill Mata return to the starting XV having been a replacement in Cardiff. He will leave the club to join Bristol Bears in the summer, but will be an important player over the next few games as they try to secure a top eight finish and a place in the play-offs.
READ MORE: Edinburgh team to face Zebre confirmed as Emiliano Boffelli suffers injury setback
Speaking about Boffelli’s injury, Everitt said: “Unfortunately he’s gone a little bit backwards this week.
“He played in the Cardiff game and did really well, then he came off that game a few days later and the back started playing up again.
"I think it’s important for us to rest him this week so that he can make a full recovery to be ready for selection next week.
“The risk in him playing this week would be that he might not be able to take the field against Munster, and for that matter against Benetton. So we’ll give him as much time as we can to get him back to full recovery, especially with the schedule that we have.”
Currie moving to the wing is needed with Harry Paterson, Darcy Graham and Jake Henry also among those injured.
Paterson has appeared to be close to a return for a number of weeks with Everitt often mentioning that he is near, but the one-cap Scotland international picked up a niggle in training on Monday.
Everitt added: “The young man [Paterson] has had incredibly bad luck over this season, and maybe over the last two years.
“He did enough in the opportunities he had in September to work his way into the Six Nations group and make his debut, but then picked up a stress fracture training with Scotland, then had just got over that when he picked up a small niggle on Monday which was his comeback week.
"He would have been in the mix this week for selection and once again it is precautionary, especially with what lies ahead and where we are with our back-three."
Everitt explained the rationale of shifting Currie - who has enjoyed a breakthrough season - out to the wing.
READ MORE: Matt Currie brushes off criticism of Edinburgh's bonus point woes
The Edinburgh boss continued: “Being a short week, we didn’t want to wait too long, we needed to get on and prepare for the game on Friday night, so hopefully with the injury Harry has he will recover from it very quickly.
“Matt Currie has done really well for us. He’s probably one of our paciest centres as well. In the last game that he played on the wing, against the Sharks in Durban, we thought that he performed really well.
“So it was an easy one for us to just move him to the wing and keep James Lang and Mark Bennett together, like we did early on in the season.”
The injury situation means there’s not many changes to the squad as a whole with both players who have been brought into the starting XV being on the bench last time out.
An all-international front five comprises the front-row of Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman and WP Nel, with Sam Skinner and Grant Gilchrist - who captains the side - in the second row once more.
Fiji number eight Mata is the only change among the forwards, and joins Jamie Ritchie and Hamish Watson in the back-row.
Ali Price and Ben Healy keep their spots at scrum-half and fly-half, respectively, while Bennett comes into the centre to join James Lang in an all-international midfield.
Duhan van der Merwe starts on the left wing, with Currie on the opposite flank and Wes Goosen once more at fullback.
An injury update from the club lists 11 players as unavailable for tomorrow's match.
They are: Emiliano Boffelli (back), Connor Boyle (back), Tom Dodd (bicep), Darcy Graham (groin), Jake Henry (hamstring), Robin Hislop (knee), Harry Paterson (quad), D’Arcy Rae (ankle), Scott Steele (hip), Nathan Sweeney (groin), Glen Young (ankle).
Despite being able to field a side littered with internationals, Everitt admitted he is worried about the injury situation.
Everitt continued: “That’s why I say it is important to get these guys back.
"We’re not taking Zebre lightly, like we didn’t take going down to the Sharks with Matt Currie on the wing lightly, so we’ve got to play the best available players for us. There is no use playing players who are 80 percent, we need 100 percent effort from all players.
“Injuries sometimes are out of your control, you’ve got to deal with what you’ve got, and I think the backs we have at the moment have coped incredibly well and been resilient in fitting in wherever they’ve been needed to fit in.”
The teams
Edinburgh: Wes Goosen, Matt Currie, Mark Bennett, James Lang, Duhan van der Merwe, Ben Healy, Ali Price, Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman, WP Nel, Sam Skinner, Grant Gilchrist (c), Jamie Ritchie, Hamish Watson, Viliame Mata
Replacements: Dave Cherry, Boan Venter, Javan Sebastian, Marshall Sykes, Luke Crosbie, Ben Vellacott, Cammy Scott, Chris Dean
Zebre: Geronimo Prisciantelli, Jacopo Trulla, Fetuli Paea, Enrico Lucchin, Simone Gesi, Giovanni Montemauri, Thomas Dominguez; Muhamed Hasa, Giampietro Ribaldi, Juan Pitinari, Matteo Canali, Andrea Zambonin, Giacomo Ferrari, Taina Fox-Matamua, Giovanni Licata (c)
Replacements: Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, Samuele Taddei, Riccardo Genovese, David Sisi, Bautista Stavile, Gonzalo Garcia, Damiano Mazza, Lorenzo Pani
Read the rules here