Wasps currently lie third from bottom in the Gallagher Premiership, but are only two points behind Pool 3 joint leaders Edinburgh and Bordeaux-Begles in the Challenge Cup.

“Clearly, they’ve not started the season the way they would have liked and they’ve got a few injury issues, but that’s part and parcel of the game,” Cockerill told the Edinburgh website.

“Wasps are a good team, but we know that if we put our best game on the field, we’ll more than compete with them.

"But if we’re sloppy and inaccurate, then they’ve got an All Black in the centre, they’ve got an All Black at 10 and they’ve got Jimmy Gopperth, a former All Black playing at 12, so they’ve got some real quality there. We will need to be on it.

“They’re a big European club, they’ve won in Europe, they’ve been English champions. They’ve got some very special players. They’ve got three All Blacks in their back line, they’ve got a Springbok, they’ve got England internationals.

"The Premiership is an unforgiving place. Even after five games, you can be under pressure. But we know they have a lot of threat.”

Cockerill had mixed news on the injury front. He welcomes back Scotland wing Darcy Graham, but said prop WP Nel won’t be available until next weekend’s trip to Wasps.

Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill dismissed Wasps’ disappointing start to their domestic campaign ahead of the sides’ European Rugby Challenge Cup third-round tie at BT Murrayfield on Friday night and stressed that they pose “a lot of threat”.